Professional illnesses in miners caused by heavy metals and toxic substances

Abstract

The exposure of humans in an environment contaminated with heavy metals is associated with many diseases, characterized by pathological changes in the respiratory tract, lung function deterioration. The results of the research, conducted with miners working in the “Sasa” lead and zinc mine, were focused on validating the existing professional risk. Most affected are the miners engaged in drilling head and ore. Disease was verified by analysis of acute symptoms. According to the time of exposure, disease symptoms were most frequent after exposure from 1 to 3 years. This indicates that a short span of exposure can be dangerous for some organs, depending on individual hypersensitivity. The most common lung diseases in exposed workers are, chronic bronchitis and tracheitis, chronic obstructive lung disease, pneumoconiosis and silicosis. The multidisciplinary elaboration of the topic, suggests the need for a more serious approach to this important phenomenon (ecotoxicological impact of heavy metals in exposed workers), and also is a specific model that is capable of application and in other related research.

Keywords

• professional exposure
• ecotoxicology
• hospitalization
• preventive measures