The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-16
Your Health
INHALINC DUST
STARTS DEADLY
LUNG AILMENT
Industrial Workers in Vari-
Gus Lines Face Disease
Menace.
BY DR.. MORRIS FISHBEIN
Editor Journal of the American Medi.
cal Association and of Hygeia,
the Health Magazine.

Ii Ohs 4hOhhlS F1SnDEIN
Editor Journal of the American Medi-
cal Association and of Hygeia,
the Health Magazine.
If you happen to be working in
a shop where a great deal of dust is
in the air, you should see that all
possible precautions are taken to
keep from inhaling that dust.
Doctors have known, for centuries,
that dust is one of the primary
causes of lung diSeaS particularly
tuberculosis.
One of the worst types of dust
diseases, that leads to tuberculosis,
is silicosis, caused by breathing in
silica dust. There also is asbestosis,
from breathing in asbestos dust;
nthracosis, from breathing in coal
dust, and siderosis, from inhaling
! iron dust.
SilicoSiS is known, popularity, as
miners consumption, or potter's
asthma, or stone mason's phthisis,
according to whether it is found
among workers in mines, in pot
teries, or in stone.
Changes Lung Fibers
Silica is used in all sorts of scour-
ing and polishing, and in sandpa per
grinding. 1t is found in the develop
ment of fertilizer and insecticides,
as filler in rubber, in manufac-
ture of glass, in manufacture of
various insulating materials, and in
grinding Of lenses.
Naturally, the amount Of dust
developed and inhaled dpeends On
the nature of the industry con-
cerned, and the various measures
taken to prevents inhaling of dust
by the worker.
When dust containing silica is in
hailed, it produces fibrous changes
in the lung.
AS these fibrouS changes occur,
resistance of the lung breaks down
with silicoSis is more likely to be-
come tuberculosis than one without.
The disease develops gradually.
In the early stage the person may
look we'll and feel well. Soon, how
ever, he begins to develop dry
cough, he has a etndency to catch
cold easily, and then shortneSS of
breathing or short-windedness be-
comes a prominent symptom.
Diagnosis Is Easy
In an earlier day it was necessary
to depend wholly on the physical
examination and on the history of
the case to determine presence of
this disease; but with development
of the x-ray, it is possible to make
a positive diagnosis without diff
Guilty.
The patient with silicosis who de-
velops tuberculosis has much more
difficult time in recovering than one
who has not silicosis, and in many
instances this form of tuberculosis
is fatal.
A person working in an industry
where silica is involved should have
protection against its dangers.
Protection Urged
Disappointing operations should
be housed in special departments,
and in these departments, wherever
possible, effective exhaust ventila-
ton should be used, to remove as
much dust as possible.
Water used in the places where
the dust develops is, of course, help
full in keeping dust down. In some
types of work, it may be possible to
substitute other materials for silica.
For individuals, various types of
air. masks and respirators have been
developed, to filter the dust.
Use of silica now is so widespread
in industry that it demands special
consideration to protect health Of
| workers