Volcanic ash can severely damage your lungs

[Guest guest]

Hi Don, I am delighted to see people checking back in!

Lying? That is a harsh word. Jet engine mechanics are not physicians. In

contrast, the below author is a physician.

Volcanic ash can severely damage your lungs.

As one Toronto doctor finds out, the dangerous dust can trash more than planes.

Affected lungs can resemble burnt out shells of a bombed city Dr. Shafiq Qaadri,

From Thursday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010 7:01PM EDT

Last updated on Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010 8:02PM EDT

" Doc, I miss my volcano. "

" You miss your what? " I said.

" My volcano. Honestly, I miss it, " said Roderigo, 38, recently arrived in Canada

from Mexico.

After weeks of tests and X-rays, we had finally discovered the cause of

Roderigo's severe lung disease. While European airports suffer from continued

closings, delays and safety concerns because of Iceland's stubborn volcano,

doctors know that volcanic ash can compromise health. Like jet engines, people

can also be grounded by inhaling the dangerous dust, suffer long-term disability

or even crash.

For months, Roderigo's breathing was worsening. At first, it seemed to be a

standard case of asthma, with occasional breathing tightness, wheezing and

phlegm in the chest. He seemed to do well after being prescribed the usual

asthma inhalers. He even got rid of his girlfriend's cat, as cat hair and dander

are universal evils in the eyes of asthma doctors.

But after a bad bout of fever, coughing and gasping for air, we did a chest

X-ray. The results were astonishing. His lungs looked like he had unrepentantly

smoked a pack a day for 40 years – older than his age. Yet Roderigo swore he was

an absolute non-smoker. He said, " Doc, I don't smoke, legal or illegal. "

Roderigo did not have asthma but something more challenging. He had severe

emphysema, which doctors usually see in dedicated smokers twice Roderigo's age.

His lungs had been trashed, resembling the burnt out shells of a bombed city.

Much of his lungs were just dead tissue, useless for inhaling oxygen. In fact,

his entire chest was a war zone.

What had caused so much damage? Searching for an inhaled culprit, physicians

remember the days of medical school. I asked default questions from vaguely

remembered lectures. Did you work in a coal mine? Chemical industry? Did you

inhale fungus while working on a farm? Did you ever have tuberculosis? Roderigo

answered " no " to all these questions and assured me that he was not indulging a

cocaine or other drug habit.

Then after thinking, Roderigo said, " There is Popocatepetl. "

" Pardon me? " I replied.

" Popocatepetl. My volcano. My family lived on its slopes outside Mexico City. As

kids we had songs and games to guess when it would smoke. That's why I miss it. "

I thought I had a reasonably international view of medical illness but

Roderigo's case was remarkable. From childhood he had been inhaling small

amounts of ash emitted by the recurring eruptions of his beloved volcano,

Popocatepetl, which means " smoking mountain " in Aztec.

European travellers are discovering now what Roderigo has lived all his life.

Inhaling glass-like silica particles of volcanic ash damages machinery,

including the body. As more dust particles settle in the lung, the body goes on

the offensive. But the particles are not biodegradable. Unwanted guests, they

lodge in the lungs like permanent stalactites in a cave. In vain, the body

recruits police cells to do mop-up exercises to cleanse the lungs. But this

friendly fire, the immune response, goes into overdrive and leads to collateral

damage. The lungs become chronically irritated and angry, and they harden and

scar, a process called fibrosis.

With the Industrial Revolution, there were more and more such cases, what came

to be known as pneumoconiosis, " dusty lungs. " Delamar, a city in Nevada famous

for its mines, became known as " the Widow Maker " after hundreds of miners died

from years of inhaling gold dust.

Canadian physicians may encounter this disease in patients who work in the

asbestos industry, sandblasting, stone masonry or mining. But Roderigo's rare

case reminds us of how large and subtle the world actually is. In fact, the

official name for his specific condition is as long as the flight delays in

Europe. Take a deep breath: Roderigo has

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Dr. Shafiq Qaadri is a Toronto family physician. Special to The Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/volcanic-ash-can-severely-damage-your\

-lungs/article1542467/

[Guest guest]

I was referring to the medical community, not the jet mechanics. When you claim

that there is a health risk to the ash cloud even though the medical community

says there is not, it seems that you are saying that the medical community is

lying to us. I just wondered what your theory is as to why they would do that.

>

> Hi Don, I am delighted to see people checking back in!

> Lying? That is a harsh word. Jet engine mechanics are not physicians. In

contrast, the below author is a physician.

>

> Volcanic ash can severely damage your lungs.

> As one Toronto doctor finds out, the dangerous dust can trash more than

planes. Affected lungs can resemble burnt out shells of a bombed city Dr. Shafiq

Qaadri, From Thursday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010

7:01PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010 8:02PM EDT

>

> " Doc, I miss my volcano. "

>

> " You miss your what? " I said.

>

> " My volcano. Honestly, I miss it, " said Roderigo, 38, recently arrived in

Canada from Mexico.

>

> After weeks of tests and X-rays, we had finally discovered the cause of

Roderigo's severe lung disease. While European airports suffer from continued

closings, delays and safety concerns because of Iceland's stubborn volcano,

doctors know that volcanic ash can compromise health. Like jet engines, people

can also be grounded by inhaling the dangerous dust, suffer long-term disability

or even crash.

>

> For months, Roderigo's breathing was worsening. At first, it seemed to be a

standard case of asthma, with occasional breathing tightness, wheezing and

phlegm in the chest. He seemed to do well after being prescribed the usual

asthma inhalers. He even got rid of his girlfriend's cat, as cat hair and dander

are universal evils in the eyes of asthma doctors.

>

> But after a bad bout of fever, coughing and gasping for air, we did a chest

X-ray. The results were astonishing. His lungs looked like he had unrepentantly

smoked a pack a day for 40 years � older than his age. Yet Roderigo swore he

was an absolute non-smoker. He said, " Doc, I don't smoke, legal or illegal. "

>

> Roderigo did not have asthma but something more challenging. He had severe

emphysema, which doctors usually see in dedicated smokers twice Roderigo's age.

His lungs had been trashed, resembling the burnt out shells of a bombed city.

Much of his lungs were just dead tissue, useless for inhaling oxygen. In fact,

his entire chest was a war zone.

>

> What had caused so much damage? Searching for an inhaled culprit, physicians

remember the days of medical school. I asked default questions from vaguely

remembered lectures. Did you work in a coal mine? Chemical industry? Did you

inhale fungus while working on a farm? Did you ever have tuberculosis? Roderigo

answered " no " to all these questions and assured me that he was not indulging a

cocaine or other drug habit.

>

> Then after thinking, Roderigo said, " There is Popocatepetl. "

>

> " Pardon me? " I replied.

>

> " Popocatepetl. My volcano. My family lived on its slopes outside Mexico City.

As kids we had songs and games to guess when it would smoke. That's why I miss

it. "

>

> I thought I had a reasonably international view of medical illness but

Roderigo's case was remarkable. From childhood he had been inhaling small

amounts of ash emitted by the recurring eruptions of his beloved volcano,

Popocatepetl, which means " smoking mountain " in Aztec.

>

> European travellers are discovering now what Roderigo has lived all his life.

Inhaling glass-like silica particles of volcanic ash damages machinery,

including the body. As more dust particles settle in the lung, the body goes on

the offensive. But the particles are not biodegradable. Unwanted guests, they

lodge in the lungs like permanent stalactites in a cave. In vain, the body

recruits police cells to do mop-up exercises to cleanse the lungs. But this

friendly fire, the immune response, goes into overdrive and leads to collateral

damage. The lungs become chronically irritated and angry, and they harden and

scar, a process called fibrosis.

>

> With the Industrial Revolution, there were more and more such cases, what came

to be known as pneumoconiosis, " dusty lungs. " Delamar, a city in Nevada famous

for its mines, became known as " the Widow Maker " after hundreds of miners died

from years of inhaling gold dust.

>

> Canadian physicians may encounter this disease in patients who work in the

asbestos industry, sandblasting, stone masonry or mining. But Roderigo's rare

case reminds us of how large and subtle the world actually is. In fact, the

official name for his specific condition is as long as the flight delays in

Europe. Take a deep breath: Roderigo has

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

>

> Dr. Shafiq Qaadri is a Toronto family physician. Special to The Globe and Mail

>

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/volcanic-ash-can-severely-damage-your\

-lungs/article1542467/

>

[Guest guest]

The medical community is claiming that volcanic ash can severely damage your

lungs and that Europeans had best beware. That is the point of the article.

QUOTE

European travellers are discovering now what Roderigo has lived all his life.

Inhaling glass-like silica particles of volcanic ash damages machinery,

including the body...

Canadian physicians may encounter this disease in patients who work in the

asbestos industry, sandblasting, stone masonry or mining. But Roderigo's rare

case reminds us of how large and subtle the world actually is. In fact, the

official name for his specific condition is as long as the flight delays in

Europe. Take a deep breath: Roderigo has

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

ENDQUOTE

How could inhaling glass particles be risk free?

>

> I was referring to the medical community, not the jet mechanics. When you

claim that there is a health risk to the ash cloud even though the medical

community says there is not, it seems that you are saying that the medical

community is lying to us. I just wondered what your theory is as to why they

would do that.