As promised, we are continuing our series of blogs covering pneumonoconiosis, with this Part II. Commonly Pneumoconiosis is known as PMF and more commonly, it is known and dreaded as Black Lung.
You might wonder, why include a disease such as this discussed in an Orlando respiratory disease clinic blog? The answer is because this disease, once nearly eradicated, has now surfaced in horrific numbers, and we are concerned with all respiratory matters, even in faraway Appalachia.
This disease is trending in national news now, as it infects a new generation. All things respiratory concern the lung care and research authorities at Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists.
Coal Miners Lost a Generation to Black Lung. Now it’s back.
The government watchdog agency which collects information on black lung and associated respiratory diseases, as it guards our nation’s coal miners, has released important statistics over the last year.
A caution, a cry for help is evident in those numbers.
Check out the CDC agency’s report just 11 months ago, and see how Black Lung diagnosis has jumped in the last year.
“This outbreak highlights the critical need for control of dust in coal mines and for improved health surveillance of miners. Learn more by going to the recent CDC report at go.usa.gov
Let’s Review Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance
Through the CDC, NIOSH takes mobile CWHS screening to coal miners at no cost in coal-mining states in the U.S. This is a good idea, as were the laws against high levels of coal dust in mines, enacted in 1943, and again in the 1990’s.
Confidential and Complete Screenings
“The screenings include a work history questionnaire, a chest radiograph, a respiratory assessment questionnaire and spirometry testing. Blood pressure screening is also conducted.” Typically, the process takes about 30 minutes. With all of this attention, what is the coal worker’s greatest fear? The answer possesses a certain miner’s mystique; they do not want to lose their jobs.
Laws state that the miner’s results are confidential. No individual information is publicly disclosed, or given to employers. Yet, they sometimes find out. Then, according to interviews, any hint of disease will pave the way for the mining company to find other reasons for letting go of a miner.
Wear Your Gear, for Your Lung’s Sake!
Coal Miner’s Flashback:
Just 15 years ago, PMF was virtually eradicated, with a prevalence of 0.08% among all CWHSP participants.
Can black lung be erradicated? Again!
At that timed the disease was only 0.33% visible among active underground miners with at least 25 years of mining tenure.
Today: CWHSP
CWHSP has discovered large increases in the prevalence of PMF identified in the central Appalachian states of Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia has been especially pronounced.
60 patient studies were investigated in 2016. These workers were residents of Kentucky, proud to be part of the central Appalachian coalfield. You can read all the details, but long story short, they all had PMF to some degree.
By the way, remember, this disease is lethal, and it’s now at the highest level since the early 1970s.
Your Takeaway On Black Lung Disease
FLASS wants you to know that excessive inhalation of coal mine dust is the sole cause of PMF in working coal miners.
Mining Work in the Black Dust and Silica is not always deep under Ground.
We, as well as other lung experts, believe the upsurge in cases can only be happening from overexposure or increased toxicity.
Annecdotal testimonies from coal workers in Appalachia reveal miners who cannot, or find it much too awkward, to work in the government approved respiration gear.
Likewise, they reveal loopholes in the way pumped air content can be reported by companies, even after violations have occurred.
Thus we bring you a story of major importance.
And yet, would not research into conditions and laws go faster if there were coal mines in the metro-heart of Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, or Orlando?
Meanwhile a disease outlawed almost 50 years ago by Congress and research, with the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, is preying on the lungs of some of our hardest working citizens.
Wherever and whenever, lungs are involved, you will find the Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists reporting it to you.