Lung ailments come with the paycheck for wide swath ...( rticles of elements such as cobalt that...)

Beckett says doctors should consider the work place as a possible cause for any unexplained lung ailment in a working adult, and they should check if symptoms ease after work or during weekends or vacations. Even so, oftentimes a person's illness has nothing to do with the work place, even though circumstances might make a doctor suspect a link. One patient Beckett saw had developed a serious lung ailment caused by molds that often grow in the type of metal-working fluids she was exposed to in her job at a manufacturing plant. A little bit of detective work located the real source of the problem: fiberglass insulation in her basement that had become home to a large colony of mold.

"What's important to realize is that most work sites are very safe and very healthy. But if a patient is having a respiratory problem, the physician should consider the patient's work place when looking for the cause of illness," says Beckett, whose work is supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

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Contact: Tom Rickey
trickey@admin.rochester.edu
716-275-7954
University of Rochester
8-Feb-2000