A case of pneumoconiosis: result of the inhalation of asbestos dust (1928)

This article is a case report about one man who had worked in the asbestos industry. The author was an assistant medical officer in the Public Health Department in Glasgow. The man was sent for an opinion on his chest. Over several months he had cough, breathlessness, weight loss and tiredness, which at first suggested chronic pulmonary tuberculosis. On examination he had well-marked finger clubbing, and repeated sputum tests found no tubercle bacillus. A chest X-ray showed fine mottling throughout both lungs, more marked on the right side and at both bases, with signs of definite fibrosis (scarring), especially on the right. After six months in hospital his general condition had improved considerably, though his cough remained. The author concluded that the X-ray features and his long employment with asbestos pointed definitely to fibrosis of occupational origin. The author added that whether his toxaemic symptoms came from some part of the asbestos rock needed further investigation. In the available transcription, the man's age and exact length of employment cannot be read reliably.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. J-M listed it in its medical library index as no. 003111.