

First, the early stages of lung disease in workers were not recognized as silicosis. Although this definition allowed affected workers to obtain compensation and prevention policies to be established, several issues were overlooked. Their influence proved to be decisive: silicosis was finally defined as a pulmonary condition acquired from moderate but long-term exposure to silica dust. In order to reduce the number of settlements, mining companies and their medical experts obtained a minimal definition of the disease. However, in a number of countries, employers were responsible for occupational illnesses and related compensation.

had asked medical experts to provide a clear and stable definition of silicosis so that it could be registered as an occupational illness, thus enabling affected workers to claim damages. It played a major role in the establishment of many national social security systems. Under the pressure of the trade unions, the International Labour Office FermerThe International Labour Office is the permanent secretariat of the International Labour Organization, an international body created in 1919 to work for social justice and lasting peace. To study the history of this illness, the researcher went back to the 1930s. This ailment has killed tens of thousands of workers in France since 1945 and is still one of the most serious work-related diseases today, affecting tens of millions of professionals across the world. The project stems from an initial investigation on silicosis led by Paul-André Rosental in 2005. Delving into knowledge that has been forgotten, abandoned or voluntarily set-aside reopens paths that have been neglected. The SILICOSIS project, which is supported by the European Union, is based on a simple realization: one only finds what one is looking for. A high dose of corticosteroids was prescribed, which got the patient out of the acute phase and back on his feet.Ī disease description “negotiated” with the mining industry

The treatment was changed following this diagnosis. Because of their small size, fine particles (with a diameter below 2.5 microns) and ultrafine or nanoparticles (below 0.1 microns) can penetrate very deep into the lungs. . It is also known as lupus., an autoimmune pathology suspected of being related to the inhalation of mineral dusts FermerLightweight inorganic particles that can remain suspended in the air.

This autoimmune disease is characterized by successive symptomatic periods and remission phases. So she looked at the case file from another angle: What if the patient, a former mason, had developed an illness related to the dust inhaled during his career, and if that condition had been reawakened by the inhalation of soot from his chimney, which he had recently swept? Further tests confirmed this hypothesis: the man was suffering from chronic silicosis (an irreversible lung disease caused by silica dust) and his recent exposure had caused an acute attack of systemic lupus erythematosus FermerA chronic inflammatory disease that can affect many organs (skin, kidneys, joints, lungs and nervous system). As a medical partner in the SILICOSIS project, she was aware of how poorly dust toxicity had been taken into account since the 1930s. Marianne Kambouchner, an anatomic pathologist, was then called upon to analyze biopsies from the patient. The first success story dates back to 2013, when a man of 78 was admitted to the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny (near Paris) in an emergency, with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a worrying heart condition and an abnormal accumulation of liquid around the lungs and heart. The ultimate goal is to use social sciences to help healing. 1 His project SILICOSIS, launched three years ago, is unusual but promising: it consists in reconstructing the history of diseases in order to diagnose them more easily. “We saved our first patient!” enthuses historian Paul-André Rosental of the Centre d’Études Européennes de Sciences Po.
