JLE

Médecine et Santé Tropicales

MENU

Silicosis in underground miners in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo: 27 cases Volume 28, issue 4, Octobre-Novembre-Décembre 2018

Authors
1 Université de Kamina, 4748 Kamina, RD Congo
2 ISTM-Lubumbashi, RD Congo
3 Department of Public Health, School of Medecine and Graduate School of Public Health, International University of Health and Welfare (IUHW), Chiba & Tokyo, Japon
4 Université de Lubumbashi, RD Congo
5 Institute for work and health, Service of Occupational Medecine, University of Lausanne and Geneva 1066 Epalinges-Lausanne, Suisse
* Correspondance

Introduction

Silicosis is one of the most prevalent occupational lung diseases and a public health problem throughout the world. Underground miners of copper and cobalt are exposed to the dust of these minerals and thus to the risk of developing silicosis. The objective of this report was to describe a series of silicosis cases in miners exposed to mineral dusts at a mining company operating since the colonial era in Lubumbashi, Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).