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How Dust Affects Your Lungs
Different kinds of dusts may affect the body in the following ways:

Little apparent damage: certain dusts such as limestone seem to cause little or no damage.

Mechanical irritation: asbestos fibers may scratch the lung tissues and begin reactions which may cause scarring and cancer. A chemical reaction may be involved.

Allergic reaction: the lungs become sensitive, particularly to organic dusts from plant life such as moldy hay.

Chemical reaction: this is believed to be the case with silicosis, with quartz dust triggering a direct chemical reaction within the lungs.

What Symptoms Could I Have?
It is often hard to predict the course of a dust disease and the symptoms a person may experience. Some workers may suffer little from the disease-even in its advanced state-and eventually die of other causes.
Many workers who breathe in harmful dusts over a long period of time develop a serious illness. Shortness of breath is often the first symptom to appear. A cough is often the next symptom. A person may show signs of heart failure, including severe shortness of breath. As the disease advances, scarring takes place in the lungs. This reduces normal flow of oxygen into the blood stream and may cause the lips to look blue.

People with dust diseases may develop complications such as the development of tuberculosis, pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and emphysema.

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How Will My Doctor Treat Me?
Treatment for dust diseases is based on the diagnosis by the physician. The allergic response to organic dusts may be treated with drugs like corticosteroids.

Occupational asthma treatment is similar to treatment of asthma in general. A worker will be encouraged to avoid any known asthma triggers, and drugs to reduce inflammation and open the airways of the lungs may be prescribed.

Pulmonary fibrosis is very difficult to treat and relief of symptoms is often the best treatment a doctor can offer. Prevention is the best form of treatment. A doctor may suggest a change of occupations or a reduction in exposure to dust as a part of a treatment plan.