Byssinosis

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Definition

Byssinosis is a chronic, asthma-like narrowing of the airways. Also called brown lung disease, byssinosis results from inhaling particles of cotton, flax, hemp, or jute.

Description

Although inhaling cotton dust was identified as a source of respiratory disease more than 300 years ago, byssinosis has been recognized as an occupational hazard for textile workers for less than 50 years. More than 800,000 workers in the cotton, flax, and rope-making industries are exposed in the workplace to airborne particles that can cause byssinosis. Only workers in mills that manufacture yarn, thread, or fabric have a significant risk of dying of this disease.

In the United States, byssinosis is almost completely limited to workers who handle unprocessed cotton. More than 35,000 textile workers have been disabled by byssinosis and 183 died between 1979 and 1992. Most of the people whose deaths were due to byssinosis lived in the textile-producing regions of North and South Carolina.

— Maureen Haggerty

Dictionary: bys·si·no·sis  (bĭs'ĭ-nō'sĭs)

An occupational respiratory disease caused by the long-term inhalation of cotton, flax, or hemp dust and characterized by shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing. Also called brown lung disease.

[Late Latin byssinum, linen garment (from Latin byssus, linen cloth; see byssus) + –OSIS.]

For more information on byssinosis, visit Britannica.com.

A form of pneumoconiosis that affects cotton, flax, and hemp workers and is characterized by symptoms, such as wheezing, that are most severe at the beginning of each work week. Also called brown lung disease.