The detective work of identifying work-related lung diseases

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Every job has its risks, but some jobs are linked to specific issues, such as lung disorders.

The risks change over time, but an expert in occupational lung diseases says the process of identifying them remains true.

From the Pennsylvania coal fields to battlefields in the Mideast, people have worked amidst dust, fumes, gases, and chemicals.

We've heard of some issues they develop like black lung, asbestos lung, and asthma, but there are hundreds of others, says Dr. Lijo Illipparambil, a pulmonary critical care expert at Temple Health.

"Like Farmer's lung. There's also Bird Fanciers' lung," says Dr. Illipparambil. "There used to be a Wine Growers lung."

Dr. Illipparambil says who develops an ailment depends on exposure, background, genetics, and still-unidentified factors.

"Some people get exposed their entire lives and have no issues, right? Others get exposed a couple times, and they end up having progressive pulmonary fibrosis," he says.

Among the first signs are a cough that doesn't go away, shortness of breath that gets worse and asthma. But because of the many diseases with similar symptoms, getting a thorough history is first and foremost.

"Because it helps us determine if there's an exposure, how much you were exposed, and some of the other background parts of your medical history can tell us - are you a higher risk?" says Dr. Illipparambil.

Questions may go back 20 or 30 years, because lung diseases can take decades to develop.

"I once got a box with about 2,500 pages of records and I went through them," says Dr. Illipparambil.

After the history comes lung function testing and a CT scan.

"Each of them has kind of their own specific way that they look on CT scan," says Dr. Illipparambil.

Occupational diseases evolve as the workplace and health standards evolve. Popcorn makers removed the chemical linked to popcorn lung, however, that chemical is now in many e-cigarette flavors.

"There's newer ones that are coming out as we get more synthetic fibers," says Dr. Illipparambil. "The earlier we start noticing something, the faster we start protecting the people who work with these materials."

Doctors and technicians do a lot of detective work in solving these cases and sometimes meet as a group to brainstorm tough ones.