Question

Are symptoms of silicosis obvious?

Answer 1

Silicosis is a disease caused by inhaling large amounts of silica dust over a long period of time. Silica is naturally found in certain types of stone, rock, sand and clay. While working with these silica containing materials, these materials can create a very fine dust that can be easily inhaled deep into the lungs.

Complete answer:
Symptoms of silicosis are generally visible after many years of exposure.In early stages, signs are moderate and encompass cough, sputum and revolutionary shortness of breath. As the scarring continues to worsen, the first actual symptoms of this disease can be recorded by an unusual chest X-ray.
Once the lung scarring has turned out to be extra severe, there are a range of signs and symptoms that may also appear. These usually consist of bronchitis-like signs such as chronic cough, shortness of breath and issue in breathing. People additionally go through from weakness, fatigue, fever, night time sweats, leg swelling and bluish discoloration of the lips.
In the initial exposure of silica there would not be any symptoms but after a couple of years of continuous exposure when the silica starts collecting in the respiratory passage and the lungs, that is when the silicosis happens. At this stage the symptoms are obvious.

So the answer to this question is 'yes' the symptoms of silicosis are obvious.

Note:
The diagnosis of this disease is initially based on the work history of the patient, smoking history, whether the patient wears protective equipment during work or not, any historic clinical records, together with chest X-rays or CT scan. Sputum test also done in which coughed up mucus is collected for evaluation, lung characteristic tests also can be done, this test measures the lung capacity of a patient if he/she is breathing properly or getting enough oxygen into the blood.