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Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have discovered a new deadly occupational hazard in the United States known as “welder’s anthrax”. It is a special case of pneumonia that can be found in metal workers. Symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath (dyspnea), and coughing up blood (hemoptysis). Welder’s anthrax is caused by bacteria within the B. cereus group, the same one th …

The potential hazards of welding include harmful smoke (a mixture of fine particles – fumes - of metal and toxic gases), intense heat and sparks, loud noises, bright light, ultraviolet and infrared radiation. Exposure to welding fumes has been a common problem for welders, especially for those involved in railroad track and shipyard welding, automobile industry, construction, and heavy equipment manufacturing. Welding fumes are internationally classified as carcinogenic to humans ( IARC cla …