Question: They have recently removed lots of asbestos from inside the ceiling of our office. When and why is asbestos dangerous?
Asbestos is made from long, thin microscopic fibers. If this fiber is inhaled, it sticks in the tiny tubules deep inside your lung and cannot escape. In this position, it causes constant irritation which can lead to emphysema, chronic bronchitis or cancer. Usually a considerable amount of asbestos fiber must be inhaled for any significant disease to develop.
In commercial use, asbestos is normally combined with cement to make building boards or pipes. In this form it is totally safe. Only if the material is sawed or broken can the fibers escape to be inhaled. Anyone using asbestos cement should wear a face mask to prevent inhalation of any particles when sawing. Asbestos as a dust or powder is also used as an insulating material. This is usually placed in walls or ceilings, and again it is unlikely to be inhaled in these situations, but if someone walks in the ceiling space and stirs up the asbestos dust, or if the plaster wall is broken allowing the asbestos to escape, inhalation may be dangerous.
It takes many years for any disease to develop after the asbestos is inhaled, and in many people, no disease ever develops. Asbestos is safe if used carefully and workers are adequately protected.

Question: About 6 months ago I was moving a quantity of asbestos sheets without any protection, and that night I coughed a lot and felt irritation on my chest. This has persisted ever since. I would appreciate it if you could advise me what to do.
Asbestos can only cause harm to humans if inhaled. Touching, or even swallowing small amounts of asbestos, is quite harmless. To be inhaled, asbestos must be in a dust or powder form, and it is sometimes used in this way as insulation in ceilings and between walls. The sawing of asbestos sheets also produces asbestos dust that can be inhaled, and particles of asbestos may be widespread in asbestos mines and factories that manufacture asbestos products.
Old asbestos sheets may deteriorate to the point where the surface breaks down and crumbles, and a small amount of asbestos dust may be produced in this way. If small amounts of asbestos dust are inhaled infrequently, the lungs can cope adequately and expel the particles. Only long exposure to considerable amounts of asbestos dust will result in severe lung disease.
The asbestos particles are quite long and thin fibers when viewed under a microscope, which makes them difficult for the lung to remove by coughing up the mucus that accumulates around them. Over a number of years, they can irritate the lung lining to the point where the cells become cancerous. The most common form of lung cancer caused by asbestos is called mesothelioma, and this is virtually untreatable. The casual handling of sheets of asbestos for a short period of time is not going to cause any lasting lung disease, and I suspect your cough is coincidental, x-rays would not show the presence of small quantities of asbestos dust in the lungs. Please be reassured.

Question: My mother recently nearly died from pneumonia. I know it is a lung infection, but how do you tell if someone is getting pneumonia, what part of the lung is affected and how is it treated?
Pneumonia is an infection of the tiny air bubbles that form the major part of the lung, and enable the oxygen to cross into the bloodstream. The infection is caused by bacteria, miniature microscopic animals that are inhaled with every breath. Normally these bacteria are destroyed by the body’s defense mechanisms, but if the person is tired, run down, overworked, bedridden or suffering from other illnesses the bacteria may be able to get a hold and start multiplying.
The symptoms of pneumonia may be obvious with fever, cough and chest pains, but some bacteria are far more insidious, and cause minimal symptoms for some months. The patient may just feel tired, short of breath and have intermittent sweats. A chest X-ray is always necessary when a doctor suspects pneumonia, as the damaged section of lung can be seen, and the extent of the infection assessed. A sample of sputum is taken before treatment is started, and this is sent to a laboratory where the infecting bacteria can be identified, and the correct antibiotics to destroy it can be determined.
Treatment may be started before the laboratory results are received, but sometimes the antibiotic has to be changed to a more appropriate one at a later date. Medications to open up the airways and loosen the phlegm may also be prescribed. Regular physiotherapy is very important to drain the foul collection of pus out of the chest.
The other important factors in treatment are rest and the cessation of smoking. If you try to keep working, the body cannot gain enough energy to help the antibiotics fight off the infection. Anyone who continues to smoke while they have pneumonia is effectively frustrating every effort of the doctors and therapists to cure him or her.

Question: I have recently been very ill with double pneumonia. Why is double pneumonia different to ordinary pneumonia?
Pneumonia occurs when a bacterium enters the tiny air bubbles that fill your lung, and starts multiplying to cause an infection. Usually only one part of the lungs, often at the bottom of your chest, is affected at first, but the problem soon spreads to other parts of the lung.
If a sample of the sputum you cough up is sent to a laboratory, the specific bacteria causing your pneumonia can be identified. Once one bacterium is in residence, your resistance to further infection is lowered, and it is much easier for a second type of bacteria to infect the lungs as well. When this happens, both types of bacteria can be identified by the laboratory, and you are said to have double pneumonia. It is possible to have triple, and rarely even quadruple pneumonia if you are particularly unlucky!
The laboratory will also be able to tell which antibiotics will kill the various types of bacteria infecting your lungs. The appropriate combination of antibiotics can then be given by the doctor to cure the condition. Expectorants and chest physiotherapy are the other mainstays of treatment in any type of pneumonia.