This is the story of a disease which has no known diagnostic feature other than its characteristic symptoms. It has no abnormal physical signs that label it; there are no characteristic X-ray findings and no unique pathological changes to confirm or refute a diagnosis made in life.

Research has probed far into its cause and has provided clues that have led to a number of preventative measures. These vary from the breeding of bract-free cotton, to attempts at reducing the bacterial population in cotton fields. Above all, stringent restriction on the dust levels in mills have been introduced.

As a result, byssinosis may well cease to exist as an industrial disease before its exact cause can be elucidated. This will not become apparent before the passage of a further twenty to thirty years because of the length of time it would take for someone starting in a mill now to develop the disease should the causative factor still be resent.