A lung disease caused by an unknown agent in the dust produced during the processing of flax, cotton, hemp, or sisal. Byssinosis produces a feeling of tightness in the chest and shortness of breath that may become chronic if exposure continues. Bronchodilator drugs and other drugs used to treat asthma may relieve symptoms, but adequate ventilation and personal protective equipment such as dust masks will reduce the risk.
cachexia A condition of severe weight loss and decline in health caused by a serious underlying disease, such as cancer or tuberculosis, or by starvation.
Chronic in?ammatory thickening of the lung tissue, due to the inhalation of dust in textile factories. It is found chie?y among cotton and ?ax workers and, to a lesser extent, among workers in soft hemp. It is rare or absent in workers in jute and the hard ?bres of hemp and sisal. With much-improved working conditions in the UK, where byssinosis is one of the PRESCRIBED DISEASES, the disease is rare, but it is still common in some Asian countries where textiles are manufactured.
n. an industrial disease of the lungs caused by inhalation of dusts of cotton, flax, hemp, or sisal. The patient characteristically has chest tightness and *wheeze after the weekend break, which wears off during the working week.
A group of industrial diseases that give sufferers legal entitlement to financial benefit. A claimant has to have worked in an occupation recognized to increase the risk of developing a particular disease. Examples include conditions due to physical agents (such as occupational deafness), biological agents (for example, anthrax), or chemical agents (such as lead poisoning); pneumoconiosis; and byssinosis. (See also notifiable diseases; occupational disease and injury.)... prescribed diseases
a state benefit payable to a person disabled by injury or a prescribed industrial disease sustained or contracted in the course of employment (see occupational disease; prescribed disease). The benefit is payable as a weekly amount. The amount of the benefit depends on the degree of disablement as determined following assessment by a specialist. To be entitled to benefit, the disablement must be assessed as being at least 20% of total disability (1% in the case of pneumoconiosis, byssinosis, and diffuse mesothelioma). The benefit is payable if the claimant is still suffering disability two months or more after the date of the accident or onset of the disease. It is payable for a period assessed as the time for which the claimant is likely to suffer the disability. The assessment can be reviewed if the claimant’s condition deteriorates or if he or she is still disabled at the end of the period of assessment.... industrial injuries disablement benefit
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