Exposure to asbestos fibers causes this chronic lung disease it may be decades before signs and symptoms such as shortness of breath and coughing appear. The effects of long term exposure to asbestos typically dont show up for 10 to 40 years after initial exposure the most common symptoms are shortness of breath persistent dry cough chest tightness or chest pain weight loss from loss of appetite a dry crackling sound in the lungs while breathing in. Asbestosis is a chronic lung disease caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers the asbestos fibers lodge in the lung tissue causing scarring over time although asbestosis is not a type of cancer it has symptoms similar to mesothelioma including shortness of breath and a dry cough