Chronic Beryllium Disease

Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD) is a lung disease caused by the inhalation of beryllium dust and fumes.  It is currently not curablem but is treatable.  Some of the symptoms of Chronic Beryllium Disease are coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, fever, and night sweats.  The use of steroids is the primary way to control the progression of this disease.  Supplemental oxygen may be needed for some individuals.  A lung transplant may be the last alternative for some.

There is a special test, that can be done to see if you are sensitized to beryllium.  This test is called a beryllium lymphocyte proliferation transformation test (BeLPT).  It is typically a blood test, but it can also be done through a lung washing.  X-rays may be helpful to see if there is any scarring of the lungs caused by the inhalation of beryllium dust or fumes. A special type of scarring of the lungs called granuloma may be found in lung biopsy tissue.  Simple pulmonary function tests can show if there are abnormalities in the breathing functions of the lungs.  Sometimes beryllium disease is misdiagnosed as sarcoidosis, but a lymphocyte transformation test and a history of exposure to beryllium can differentiate these diseases.

Chronic beryllium disease can develop as long as thirty years after a person was last exposed to beryllium, though the average latency period is about eight to ten years.  In some people, the disease progresses slowly, but in others it may cause respiratory problems much more rapidly.  The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have determined that beryllium is a human carcinogen.  Lung cancer may also be caused by beryllium exposure.  For more information on the treatment of lung cancer see the National Cancer Institute's patient statement and the more detailed health professional statement on non-Small Cell Lung cancer.  About eighty percent of lung cancers are of the non-Small Cell type.  The rest are mostly Small Cell Lung cancers.

PubMed is the massive medical database of the National Library of Medicine (NLM).  As of July 2009 there were 431 articles on Chronic Beryllium Disease, 78 of which were comprehensive review articles.  Read more about PubMed and Chronic Beryllium Disease.

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