Dust Diseases
Dust has been known to cause disease for many centuries. Different dusts cause different diseases.
It is important to state the obvious at the beginning. Occupational lung diseases are preventable. This is achieved by either preventing agents being released into the workers’ environment or preventing agents released into the workers’ environment gaining access to the workers’ lungs. The former method is the area that effort should be concentrated on. Mechanism [...]
Mesothelioma is an incurable and extremely painful malignancy of the outer lining of the lung (the pleura) or the lining of the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum). The bulk of mesotheliomas affect the pleura. As the disease progresses the pleura or the peritoneum thickens from the thickness of cigarette paper to form a hard tumour mass [...]
Asbestos has been implicated in a number of malignant conditions in addition to mesothelioma. While asbestos induced lung cancer is the most well known, oesophegeyl cancer and renal cell carcinoma have also been positively associated with asbestos exposure. Lung Cancer Lung cancer is a cancer originating in the airways of the lung or in the [...]
Asbestosis Asbestosis is a scarring of the spongy part of the lung. It is a non-cancerous condition. The scarring results from asbestos fibres penetrating the lung tissue and causing inflammation. If this process continues then further scarring results from the body’s attempt to repair itself. The scarring also causes stiffness in the lungs which can [...]
Workers who excavate into sandstone or who work around high levels of silica dust in foundries may develop a range of debilitating conditions from their exposure to silica dust. Diseases caused by inhalation of silica dust include: Silicosis Ordinary silicosis, whether in it’s simple or complicated stage, is defined by the formation of characteristic hyaline [...]
Occupational Asthma Occupational asthma is asthma that is caused by or aggravated by a person’s work. This condition will not be diagnosed unless one thinks of the association between asthma and a person’s work. The causes are very numerous. There may be delay between starting work and the onset of symptoms. It is important to determine if there is [...]
It is not uncommon for persons who have worked with asbestos, and watched many former work mates suffer from asbestos diseases, to develop a fear of contracting an asbestos disease and dying, even if they have no disease themselves. Others may develop a fear of contracting cancer or a belief that they are likely to contract cancer [...]
