Silicosis: Overview
Silicosis is an incurable disease of the lungs caused by breathing crystalline silica dust. This dust can cause scar tissue to form in the lungs, which reduces the lungs' ability to extract oxygen from the air.
Early stages of silicosis may go unnoticed. Continued exposure to silica may result in a shortness of breath on exercising, possible fever and occasionally bluish skin at the ear lobes or lips. Silicosis makes a person more susceptible to infectious diseases of the lungs such as tuberculosis.
Progression of silicosis leads to fatigue, extreme shortness of breath, loss of appetite, pain in the chest, and respiratory failure, which may cause death. Acute silicosis may develop after short periods of exposure. Chronic silicosis usually occurs after ten or more years of exposure to low levels of silica dust.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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