Work

The Prevalence of Tuberculosis at Necropsy in Progressive Massive Fibrosis of Coalworkers

Year: 1957

Type: article

Abstract: The accumulation of dust particles in the lungs may produce harmful changes. At one time it was thought that serious damage to the lungs occurred only when the dust had a high content of free silica, but it is now accepted that coal, which contains only a small amount of free silica, can be associated with severe, and fatal, lung fibrosis (Gough, 1940). It is well recognized that in classical silicosis, i.e., the disease associated with a dust rich in free silica, tuberculosis is a frequent complication. The common type of pneumoconiosis seen in coalworkers has two forms: (a) a simple type without significant fibrosis and (b) a complicated type with severe fibrosis which is believed to be caused in most cases by tuberculosis in a lung already loaded with dust (Fletcher and Gough, 1950, Cochrane, Miall, Clarke, Jarman, Jonathan, and Moore, 1956). Strong pathological evidence of tuberculosis is present in many cases at necropsy. Some years ago a search was made in our respective departments for tubercle bacilli using routine cultural techniques and guinea-pig inoculation tests; in a series of 75 cases of massive fibrosis 25 (33%) were found positive (Fletcher, 1948). Other workers, whose results will be discussed later, did not make a systematic search for tubercle bacilli in all cases, and their conclusions were largely based on histolo gical evidence. It therefore seemed possible that if a more vigorous search were made for tubercle bacilli, using improved methods of sampling the lung combined with the most efficient bacterio logical methods, a larger proportion of positive cases might be found. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of such an investigation.

Source: Occupational and Environmental Medicine

DOI: 10.1136/oem.14.1.39

Authors: D. Rivers, W. R. L. James, D. G. Davies, S. Thomson

Institutions: University Hospital Llandough, Medical Research Council

Language: English

Topic: Occupational and environmental lung diseases

Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W2087332249