Anybody ever heard of someone getting lung cancer from digging?

[jav_007]

I was watching some show with my girl and they were talking about how that there are many substances found naturaly in the ground that can give u lung cancer. I cant dig with a mask on though

[paleo_joe]

Smoking a cigarette while surface hunting is probably the worst. I am celebrating about 5 weeks of quitting cigs.

When I first started quitting, I decided I'd leave my pack of cigarettes hidden at one of the sites I was hunting, so that I could have one there but not at home.

Turns out I'm the kind of guy who will walk 5 miles to have a cigarette.

[longtimefree]

Coccidioidomycosis


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Valley fever)





Coccidioidomycosis



Classification and external resources




Histopathological changes in a case of coccidioidomycosis of the lung showing a large fibrocaseous nodule.



ICD-10

B38.



ICD-9

114



MedlinePlus

001322



eMedicine

med/103 ped/423



MeSH

D003047


Coccidioidomycosis (also known as "California disease",[1] "Desert rheumatism",[1] "San Joaquin valley fever",[1] and "Valley fever"[1]) is a fungal disease caused by Coccidioides immitis or C. posadasii.[2] It is endemic in certain parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and northwestern Mexico.[3]

C. immitis resides in the soil in certain parts of the southwestern United States, northern Mexico, and parts of Central and South America.[4] It is dormant during long dry spells, then develops as a mold with long filaments that break off into airborne spores when the rains come. The spores, known as arthroconidia, are swept into the air by disruption of the soil, such as during construction, farming, or an earthquake.[5] Infection is caused by inhalation of the particles. The disease is not transmitted from person to person. C. immitis is a dimorphic saprophytic organism that grows as a mycelium in the soil and produces a spherule form in the host organism.
this desease seems to be more prevalent in ancient camp sites , some suggest that the desease lives better in soils with large amounts of ash and organic matter, like camp sites, alot of diggers get this desease in san diego and surrounding areas, hard to diagnose its a good idea for diggers to understand this desease so they can inform the doctor of a potential infection, wear a mask,, never heard of a case of cancer coming from digging

[Tejas]

Digging is not as likely to give you lung cancer.. It's the late nights and cigarettes figuring out where to dig that's dangerous..

[Mojave]

Hantavirus

Anthrax

Flesh eating germs

[tomclark]

Silicosis is a definite problem to worry about for extreme diggers and knappers.

Racoon, rabbit, deer, opossum, bird, etc. feces, not good to breathe in or get on cuts or accidentally ingest when you are eating a sandwich and didn't wash your hands.
Then there are normal soil inhabitants that can cause trouble if they get in ya. Bacteria, fungus, mycoplasmas.... (ewwww.)

bottle sites are a killer sometimes, all kinds of chemicals and hazardous materials. I wear gloves and breath-mask when digging dumps.

Almost any irritation over a long time can cause cancer to develop.

I suppose "natural" radioactive minerals, radon gas, asbestos can cause cancer

[joshuaream]

I dug one time at a site in South America where there is occasional volcanic activity. I dug through a very fine, dry ash layer that just floated in the air when I disturbed it. I had a bloody nose by the end of the day, my eyes were red, itchy and irritated, and I coughed up a bit of blood for several days. I know locals that go through that every week, I imagine they get the local version of black lung or silicosis after 20 years of that.

[erb]

There are a lot or Serpentine soils in California that contains asbestos. I know that there are areas that are not recommended for OHV use because of the dust. I would imagine that digging could have the same effect. Here is some information put out by UC Davis.

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8399.pdf

[Tdog]

Originally Posted by paleo_joe

Smoking a cigarette while surface hunting is probably the worst. I am celebrating about 5 weeks of quitting cigs.

When I first started quitting, I decided I'd leave my pack of cigarettes hidden at one of the sites I was hunting, so that I could have one there but not at home.

Turns out I'm the kind of guy who will walk 5 miles to have a cigarette.

A big CONGRATS on quitting smoking. Don't start back. I smoked for close to 40 years and decided to try and quit last Sept 11 when I was about dead with bronchitis. I quit cold turkey that day and haven't had one since although I haven't lost the craving for 'em! I just try and think of something else when it hits me.

[Trask]

Lots of airborn particulates can be very harmful in large concentrations or long terms of exposure. We work with Silica everyday and it's my biggest concern..The example of ash layers is very real....I imagine old time Cave diggers could have received very high exposures in short order.
As with everything I believe it is really a matter of concentration of exposure and duration that will determine your risk.