Silicosis caused by chronic inhalation of snail shell powder.
A 70-yr-old woman visited our hospital for shortness of breath. Chest CT showed ground glass opacity and traction bronchiectasis at right middle, lower lobe and left lingular division. Video-assisted thoracic surgical biopsy at right lower lobe and pathologic examination revealed mixed dust pneumoconiosis. Polarized optical microscopy showed lung lesions were consisted of silica and carbon materials. She was a housewife and never been exposed to silica dusts occupationally. She has taken freshwater snails as a health-promoting food for 40 yr and ground shell powder was piled up on her backyard where she spent day-time. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of snail shell and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy of lung lesion revealed that silica occupies important portion. Herein, we report the first known case of silicosis due to chronic inhalation of shell powder of freshwater snail.
Department of Internal Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jae Woo
JW
Jung
Byung Ook
BO
Lee
Jae Hee
JH
Lee
Sung Woon
SW
Park
Bo Min
BM
Kim
Jae Chol
JC
Choi
Jong Wook
JW
Shin
In Won
IW
Park
Byoung Whui
BW
Choi
Jae Yeol
JY
Kim
D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D004391:Dust; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001239:Inhalation; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D012829:Silicosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012908:Snails / Q000737:chemistry*; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D004391:Dust; D002244:Carbon; D012822:Silicon Dioxide