Asbestosis Bodies In The Sputum: A Study Of Specimens From Fifty Workers In An Asbestos Mill

Our plain-English summary of Asbestosis Bodies In The Sputum: A Study Of Specimens From Fifty Workers In An Asbestos Mill, by F.W. Simson, A.S. Strachan (1931).

The study

• Authors: F.W. Simson, A.S. Strachan
• Published: Journal Of Pathology And Bacteriology 34(1):1-4 (1931)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 003234. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This study, from the South African Institute for Medical Research in Johannesburg, examined sputum (coughed-up mucus) from 50 workers at an asbestos mill: five Europeans and forty-five natives. The authors wrote that the mill air was at times so full of dust that large objects could not be seen 15 or 20 feet away. The article does not name the type of asbestos. Asbestosis bodies, which are asbestos fibres coated with an iron-containing material, were found in the sputum of 48 of the 50 workers. The shortest exposure followed by the appearance of the bodies was five months. Thick films of sputum smeared directly on slides found the bodies as easily as a chemical method called the antiformin method. Tuberculosis germs were not found in any sputum sample. The authors stated that finding these bodies in sputum does not necessarily mean the lungs are scarred (pulmonary fibrosis). The authors concluded that breathing asbestos dust in high concentrations leads to these bodies appearing in the sputum of a large share of exposed workers. They believed the bodies form inside lung scavenger cells.

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.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory examination of sputum specimens from a group of exposed workers (case series)
• Who was studied: 50 workers in an asbestos mill (five Europeans and forty-five natives). Specimens were examined at the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg, from material supplied by Dr G. F. Slade.
• Exposure: Asbestos dust in an asbestos mill, at times dense enough that large objects could not be seen 15 or 20 feet away. The fibre type is not named.
• Main results:
  • Asbestosis bodies were present in the sputum of 48 of the 50 workers.
  • The shortest exposure followed by the appearance of the bodies was five months.
  • Direct thick films showed asbestosis bodies as easily as the antiformin method.
  • In carefully prepared direct films, the bodies were always found inside cells.
  • No tubercle bacilli were found in any of the sputum samples.
  • The sputum was always mucoid when there were no bronchial complications.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that inhaling asbestos dust in high concentrations leads to asbestosis bodies in the sputum of a large percentage of exposed workers. They believed the bodies are formed in alveolar phagocytes (lung scavenger cells) when an iron-containing substance is deposited on the fibre.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that asbestosis bodies in the sputum do not necessarily mean pulmonary fibrosis is present.
  • The mill was several hundred miles away, so specimens sometimes arrived only after two or three days.
  • Some specimens from native workers were collected in the evening just after the shift instead of in the morning. These contained many asbestos fibres but no dust cells.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Sputum, Pulmonary Fibrosis.

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