Seven of the patients were dead, and two more were dying of a rare chronic, progressive lung disease that can be treated but not cured.
It's estimated that about 200,000 people in the United States have Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) at any one time.
But the common denominator of a small group of patients at a Virginia clinic over a 15-year period is worrying the Centers for Disease Control: Eight were dentists; a ninth was a dental technician.
The dental professionals were 23 times more likely to have IPF than the rest of the population, the CDC said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released on Friday. Something in their workplace environment may have been poisoning them, investigators said, although they don't know what.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
4 comments:
It must be West Virginia and the toxic combination of Meth and Mountain Dew.
8:37
That is like wine and cheese in West Virginia
Fluoride.
Nitrous Oxide abuse. They LOVE that laughing gas that they use on patients. Ask anyone that works in a dental office that has that stuff. Chronic, long term abuse of that stuff is well documented among dental professionals, and the effect it has on them.
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