United States: Medical professionals are raising alarms about a “new and emerging” epidemic connected to the visually appealing quartz countertops.
The dust generated during the cutting process is causing severe respiratory issues, leaving workers struggling to breathe and experiencing painful coughing.
More about the news
The condition known as Silicosis or ‘black lung’ is indeed a death sentence unless the person opts for lung transplants, which at best prolongs a few years of the patients’ lives.
The condition was earlier believed to be on the decline, with less than five cases reported every year in California; annual cases since 2019 scientists in the state report seventy plus.
The new kinds of quartz countertops that release more silica dust when it is cut are said to be the cause of this new development, according to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.
They also caution that doctors are not diagnosing the condition aggressively enough, Daily Mail reported.
What more have the experts found?
However, the scientists established their study that as many as 80 percent of silicosis cases go unnoticed on their first assessment – instead, the patients might be diagnosed with a lung infection.
This denied the patient critical and possibly life-saving treatment, which ought to have been done at the earliest instant possible.
They also discovered that in 48 percent of those cases, patients appeared to have ‘atypical’ characteristics in their lungs, as well as sudden movements that should not occur in scans.
Hence, this delayed critical and potentially life-saving treatment.
What has the study found?
The study was done at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, where the expert team analyzed the CT scans and lung function tests of 55 miners diagnosed with the disease.
Each was also symptomatic, the majority experiencing shortness of breath and/or cough and residing in an urban setting other than Los Angeles.
In a sample of 21 individuals, the authors identified four or 19 percent of cases that received correct diagnoses at the first visit involving primary care physicians, Daily Mail reported.
Furthermore, in most cases, the scientists found that patients were provided with alternative options for diagnoses such as an infection.
Also, the doctors cautioned that a new countertop variety, termed engineered quartz, was behind a jump in cases and was formed by holding quartz shards together along with resin. It generally contains much more silicon.