Smoking also interferes with clearance of asbestos particles from the lung. Asbestosis is a sporadic disorder. Not everyone who inhales asbestos fibers will develop symptoms of the disease. In those who do, the overall disease process is not as aggressive and damaging as Silicosis, but it is still progressive. The average survival rate for patients with asbestosis is 20 years since the disease is more debilitating than it is fatal.
Silicosis is a lung disease caused by inhalation of silica.
Despite the technical adequacy of existing protective equipment, free silica is as much an occupational hazard today as it was in the past. Occupations associated with high silica exposure are coal mining, stone cutting, foundry work, quarrying, manufacture of abrasive soaps, and sandblasting. With over 1,000,000 people exposed to silica, silicosis is one of the most prevalent occupational lung diseases in the world. When silica particles deposit in the lung, they destroy lung cells, ultimately leading to pulmonary insufficiency. Due to the lung damage caused by this disease, the average survival time for people with Silicosis is 10 years.