Does everyone exposed to silica dust get silicosis?

Does everyone exposed to silica dust get silicosis?

Roy Artal (Pulmonologist and Critical Care Physician) gives expert video advice on: Am I at risk for breathing silica dust?; What are the symptoms of silicosis?; If I work with silica dust, can I expose family or friends? and more...

No, definitely not everyone who is exposed to silica does get silicosis. The risk of somebody or an individual to develop silicosis is a function of how much silica they were exposed to and over what time period. The greater and longer one's exposure, the higher at risk they are for developing silica related lung disease. An analogy could be to cigarette smoking and development of emphysema. Of the people who smoke, only about 20% of people actually develop emphysema.