Diseases beryllium disease

Exposure is usually by inhalation. It s compounds can cause dermatitis, acute pnemnonitis, acute lung disease and a specific disease (beryllium disease), that erodes the limgs leading to lung cancer, making it hard to walk, causing severe pain and exhaustion, and usually resulting in a slow, painful death by suffocation. 

The epithelioid cells in tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, Kveim tests, Crohn s disease, beryllium disease and swimming pool granuloma, irrespective of their cause, showed identical enzyme patterns, strong pentose cycle activity - biosynthesis, and strong hydrolase activity - phagocytosis (Williams et al. 

Beryllium-containing materials can be potentially harm fill if mishandled. Care must be taken in the fabrication and processing of beryUium products to avoid inhalation of airborne beryllium particulate matter such as dusts, mists, or fumes in excess of prescribed workplace limits. Inhalation of fine airborne beryllium may cause chronic beryllium disease, a serious lung disorder, in certain sensitive individuals. However, most people, perhaps as many as 99%, do not react to beryUium exposure at any level (see Beryllium and beryllium alloys). 

Similarly, data already available indicate that SNPs will be quite relevant in immunotoxicology and immunopharmacology. Findings that SNPs of immune-related proteins have an impact on the development of beryllium disease and silicosis suggest that SNPs may explain much of the daunting diversity of human responses to environmental and pharmaceutical agents. 

Maier, L. A., et al., High beryllium-stimulated TNF-alpha is associated with the -308 TNF-alpha promoter polymorphism and with clinical severity in chronic beryllium disease, Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., 164, 1192, 2001. 

An immunologic basis for chronic beryllium disease has been postulated and a hypersensitivity phenomenon demonstrated. Consistent with the concept of chronic berylliosis as a hypersensitivity pulmonary reaction are the following Persons with berylliosis also show delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions to beryllium compounds their peripheral blood lymphocytes undergo blast transformation and release of macrophage inhibition factor after exposure to beryllium in vitro helper/suppressor T-cell ratios are depressed and there is lack of a dose-response relationship in chronic beryllium cases. Hypersensitization may lead to berylliosis in people with relatively low exposures, whereas nonsensitized individuals with higher exposures may have no effects. 

Wagoner JK, Infante PF, Bayliss DL Beryllium An etiologic agent in the induction of lung cancer, nonneoplastic respiratory disease, heart disease among industrially exposed workers. Environ Res 21 15-34, 1980... 

Steenland K, Ward E Lung cancer incidence among patients with beryllium disease a cohort mortality study. J Natl Cancer Inst 83 1380-1385, 1991... 

The current permissible exposure levels for beryllium of 0.01 mcg/m3 averaged over a 30-day period or 2 mcg/m3 over an 8-hour period are insufficiently protective to prevent chronic beryllium disease. Both NIOSH and the ACGIH have recommended that the PEL and TLV be reduced to 0.05 mcg/m3. These recommendations have not yet been implemented. 

Because of the increasing use of beryllium in a growing diversity of end products, a new study of beryllium disease was undertaken by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy, as of December 1991. This study was precipitated by finding that nuclear-related weapons... 

H.C. Williams, Beryllium workers sarcoidosis or chronic beryllium disease sarcoidosis, 6(supp.) 34-35, 1989. 

LB = Lewis base bht = 2,6-di(f-butyl)-4-methylphenoxide bo = l-metalla-2,6-dioxo-3-aza-4,5-diphenylcyclohex-3-ene CBD = Chronic beryllium disease dbp = 2,6-di(t-butyl)phenoxide dfhd = 1,1,1,2,2,3,3,7,7,7-decafluorohept-ane-4,6-dionato dmmhd = 2,6-dimethyl-2-methoxyheptane-... 

Beryllium metal has properties that make it technologically attractive (Alderighi et al, 2000), but these advantages are counterbalanced by the toxicity of inhaled beryllium dust, which can cause chronic beryllium disease (Sauer et a/., 2002). The etiology of this immune hyper-response disease (Eontenot et a/., 2001) is poorly understood, but the final disease state is characterized by lung failure. 

Sauer, N. N., McCleskey, T. M., Taylor, T. P., et al, Ligand associated dissolution of beryllium toward an understanding of chronic beryllium disease. Technical report LA-UR-02-1986, Los Alamos National Laboratory (2002). 

The objective of this chapter is to put into perspective some of the current knowledge with respect to trace metals and their health implications. Potential adverse health effects of occupational exposures to trace metals are dis cussed cancer (arsenic, beryllium chromium nickel, and perhaps cadmium) chronic lung disease (beryllium and cadmium) neurologic and reproductive disorders (lead and mercury) and kidney disorders (lead and cadmium). Also discussed are the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended standards for occupational exposure to several trace metals, the difficulty of establishing safe levels of exposure (particularly for carcinogens), and problems involved in identifying toxic components of trade name products. Special attention is given to the role of chemists to help protect the public health. 

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