The above question is about breathlessness due to byssinosis or asthma or due to both. The worker is supposed to relate the condition of breathlessness. Any further inquiry may be mis-directed due to this sort of exchange. This is explained to the workers. Most of the time workers feel weak due to breathlessness and also because they are already tired due to their work in the mill.
Workers learn which symptoms to describe initially itself.
The same thing is true about the onset of disease. Many workers have forgotten how it all began. Most of the time the authorities are not keen on probing further. Here workers learn to remember the earlier symptoms. This is an important part of diagnosis.