Present estimates of the quantitative relations between exposure to mixed respirable coalmine dust and risk of developing coalworkes' simple pneumoconiosis are based on studies of working miners. These studies did not include men who had been miners but had left the coal industry, and it was not known whether the estimates of risk were also appropriate for these men. The results are reported of...

In 2012, cases of lethal pneumonia among Chinese miners prompted the isolation of a rat-borne henipavirus (HNV), Mòjiāng virus (MojV). Although MojV is genetically related to highly pathogenic bat-borne henipaviruses, the absence of a conserved ephrin receptor-binding motif in the MojV attachment glycoprotein (MojV-G) indicates a differing host-cell recognition mechanism. Here we find that MojV...

Since its inception in 1886, high rates of occupational lung disease, particularly “miners’ phthisis” (silicosis and/or pulmonary tuberculosis) and accompanying racial disparities have been a feature of the South African gold mining industry. While mortality from silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis fell among white miners during the first half of the 20th century, there was scanty information ...

The mortality risk of iron ore (haematite) miners between 1970 and 1982 was investigated in a retrospective cohort study of workers from two mines, Longyan and Taochong, in China. The cohort was limited to men and consisted of 5406 underground miners and 1038 unexposed surface workers. Among the 490 underground miners who died, 205 (42%) died of silicosis and silicotuberculosis and 98 (20%) of ...

OBJECTIVES Epidemiological reports since 2000 have documented increased prevalence and rapid progression of pneumoconiosis among underground coal miners in the United States. To investigate a possible role of silica exposure in the increase, we examined chest x-rays (CXRs) for specific abnormalities (r-type small opacities) known to be associated with silicosis lung pathology. METHODS Undergr...

For Gilliland and colleagues’ work on uranium mining and lung cancer among Navajo men between 1969 and 1993 see J Occup Environ Med 2000; 42: 278–83 of the dangers. Some took ore and radioactive fossil wood home. Waste ore was used as building material for homes. Early cohorts of miners were “really heavily exposed”, says Jonathan Samet (Keck School of Medicine, Institute of Global Health, Univ...