Exposure to compounds of beryllium can cause dermatitis, acute pneumonitis and chronic pulmonary granulomatosis ("berylliosis") in humans. These syndromes seem to have an allergic-immunologic component in common. Hypersensitivity to beryllium is of the delayed (cell-mediated) type and can be measured as skin reactivity to patch test; lymphocyte blast transformation; and macrophage migration inh...

Inhalation of Beryllium (Be) dust, or its vapors or compounds, or subcutaneous implantation of Beryllium can lead to either acute or chronic beryllium disease, also known as berylliosis. It can affect genetically susceptible individuals or workers exposed to the fumes or vapors of the metal. It was first described by Hardy and Tabershaw in 1946. Beryllium can cause either an immediate acute for...

Inhalation of Beryllium (Be) dust, or its vapors or compounds, or subcutaneous implantation of Beryllium can lead to either acute or chronic beryllium disease, also known as berylliosis. It can affect genetically susceptible individuals or workers exposed to the fumes or vapors of the metal. It was first described by Hardy and Tabershaw in 1946. Beryllium can cause either an immediate acute for...

Inhalation of Beryllium (Be) dust, or its vapors or compounds, or subcutaneous implantation of Beryllium can lead to either acute or chronic beryllium disease, also known as berylliosis. It can affect genetically susceptible individuals or workers exposed to the fumes or vapors of the metal. It was first described by Hardy and Tabershaw in 1946. Beryllium can cause either an immediate acute for...

Inhalation of Beryllium (Be) dust, or its vapors or compounds, or subcutaneous implantation of Beryllium can lead to either acute or chronic beryllium disease, also known as berylliosis. It can affect genetically susceptible individuals or workers exposed to the fumes or vapors of the metal. It was first described by Hardy and Tabershaw in 1946. Beryllium can cause either an immediate acute for...

Berylliosis is a granulomatous disorder of the lung caused by inhalation of beryllium (Be) and dominated by the accumulation of CD4+ T-helper (Th)1 memory T-cells proliferating in response to Be in the lower respiratory tract. Two gene markers have been associated with susceptibility to berylliosis: 1) the human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DP gene whose allelic variants, carrying glutamate in posit...

A fatal case of pulmonary berylliosis in a 42 year old male is described. The patient was exposed to beryllium while working in a chemical plant over a 9 year period, and presented two years after ceasing such employment. The berylliosis was diagnosed on open lung biopsy in 1971. The patient was commenced on steriod therapy at that time. He suffered progressive dyspnoea from severe restrictive ...