Classical syndromes in occupational medicine: the Montague Murray case

Our plain-English summary of Classical syndromes in occupational medicine: the Montague Murray case, by M. Greenberg (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1982).

The study

• Author: M. Greenberg
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1982;3(3):351-6
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001758).

In plain English

This article was a historical account, not a new study. It reprinted Dr. Montague Murray's 1907 evidence to a government committee on industrial disease compensation. Murray's evidence concerned one patient, a man aged 33 who had worked about 14 years with asbestos, the first ten in the carding room. He said he was the only survivor of the 10 people in that room when he started; Murray had only his word for this. Murray found marked pulmonary fibrosis in 1899. He was readmitted to hospital in April 1900 and died there. At post-mortem the lungs were tough and fibrous, especially the lower parts, without tubercular cavities; no tubercle bacilli were found in his sputum. Slides of the case, found later, showed interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and asbestos bodies. Factory inspectors' reports quoted in the article described very dusty asbestos work in 1898 and, in 1910, five deaths of people suffering from phthisis in five years among under 40 workers at an asbestos weaving factory. The author concluded that a focus on epidemiology should not lead to neglect of anecdote and history.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Historical article: reprint of 1907 testimony about a single case, with discussion of contemporary factory inspectors' reports
• Who was studied: One man, aged 33, an asbestos worker seen by Dr. Montague Murray at Charing Cross Hospital, London, in 1899 to 1900
• Exposure: About 14 years of asbestos work, the first ten in the carding room (described by the patient as the most risky part of the work), then a less dusty room; fiber type not named
• Main results:
  • When first seen in 1899, the patient had marked pulmonary fibrosis, which Murray compared to potter's asthma
  • The patient returned to work, became ill again, was re-admitted to hospital in April 1900 and died there; no date of death is given
  • At post-mortem the lungs were extremely tough and fibrous, especially the lower parts
  • The sputum was examined for tubercle bacilli and none were found
  • The post-mortem condition of the lungs did not suggest tubercular cavities
  • Enlarged glands in the neck were found not to be tuberculous
  • Histological slides of the case, later preserved, showed interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and asbestos bodies
  • The patient reported being the only survivor of the 10 people in the carding room when he started; Murray had only the patient's word for this
  • The 1898 factory inspectors' report, quoted in the article, described asbestos sifting, mixing and carding at one works done with the least possible attempt to control dust
  • The 1910 Chief Inspector's report, quoted in the article, recorded five deaths of persons suffering from phthisis in five years among a staff of under 40 workers at an asbestos weaving factory
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that if the rise of epidemiology in occupational medicine led to neglect of anecdote and history, there was a danger of repeating history; the author also credited the women factory inspectors for their early observations on asbestos hazard
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author states that Murray's original case notes could not be traced and were probably destroyed by war damage

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

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