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Beryllium Disease
The lung disease that results from exposure to beryllium dust or fumes can be chronic or acute.
Chronic Beryllium Disease
Chronic beryllium disease, also known as berylliosis, is a painful disease that involves scarring of the lungs. It was first described in 1946. Symptoms usually include shortness of breath or trouble breathing and cough. Fever, anorexia, and weight loss are common. Skin lesions are the most common external indicators of chronic beryllium disease. Granulomatous hepatitis, hypercalcemia (abnormally high concentration of calcium in the blood), and kidney stones can also occur. Other effects that have been observed in individuals with severe cases of chronic beryllium disease include damage to the right heart ventricle, hepatic necrosis, kidney stones, and weight loss.
Chest X-rays and blood tests are used to diagnose chronic beryllium disease. The blood test, also known as the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test, allows doctors to correctly diagnose chronic beryllium disease. Medical literature suggests that chronic beryllium disease will continue to progress if left untreated. While there is no cure for chronic beryllium disease, it can be treated. The disease does not progress in all patients, but if it does, some patients faster than others. While some die within a few years of diagnosis in respiratory failure, others experience a more insidious downhill course extending over decades.
The progression of chronic beryllium disease varies but death results in approximately one third of cases.
Acute Beryllium Disease
Symptoms of the acute beryllium disease include shortness of breath, chest pain, cough and acrocyanosis. Two types of the acute disease have been identified. The "fulminating" or rapid type develops within three days of an exposure to high concentrations of beryllium particles while exposure to lower concentrations may result in the "insidious" type.
Acute beryllium disease can be fatal, but persons who survive have an excellent prognosis. The clinical manifestations in survivors are usually short-lived and completely reversible.
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