Silicosis
Silicosis is one of the world's oldest known occupational diseases; reports of employees with the disease date back to ancient Greece. By 1800, many common names for the lung disease, such as "masons' disease" were given to silicosis. Despite its different names through the centuries, silicosis is a single disease with a single cause - exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust.
Silicosis: A Preventable Disease
There are three types of silicosis, depending upon the airborne concentration of crystalline silica to which a worker has been exposed:
- Chronic/classic silicosis, the most common form of the disease, occurs after 15-20 years of moderate to low exposures to respirable crystalline silica. Symptoms associated with chronic silicosis may or may not be obvious; therefore, workers need to have a chest x-ray to determine if there is lung damage. As the disease progresses, the worker may experience shortness of breath upon exercising and have clinical signs of poor oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange. In the later stages, the worker may experience fatigue, extreme shortness of breath, chest pain, or respiratory failure.
- Accelerated silicosis can occur after 5-10 years of high exposures to respirable crystalline silica. Symptoms include severe shortness of breath, weakness, and weight loss. The onset of symptoms takes longer than in acute silicosis.
- Acute silicosis occurs after a few months or as long as two years following exposures to extremely high concentrations of respirable crystalline silica. Symptoms of acute silicosis include severe disabling shortness of breath, weakness, and weight loss, which often leads to death.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
2-2. Which of the following occurs after 15-20 years of moderate to low exposures to respirable crystalline silica?
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