Others bring injury, even death. They are breathed in, entering the lungs with every breath like an invading army. The lung diseases caused by dusts are called pneumoconiosis. The name of each pneumoconiosis comes from the dust that produces it. The best known because it is the most common is silicosis.
Silicosis comes from breathing in silica, or quartz dust.
Quartz is one of the most widespread of the earth s minerals. It is found in many kinds of rock. Miners looking for anything from coal to gold must frequently drill through quartz or blast quartz rock. Asbestosis Asbestosis, the pulmonary fibrosis caused by asbestos fibers, develops after years of exposure to the asbestos fibers. After the fibrosis becomes well established the worker develops increasing breathlessness often with cough, sputum and weight-loss.