The mysterious 9/11 cough

Vance · 12-01-2004, 06:40 PM

Inhaling toxic dust from the World Trade Center disaster on 11 September 2001 has damaged some rescue workers’ lungs more than years of smoking, US scientists reveal. Using an unconventional chest scan for the circumstances, researchers were able to capture visual signs of the severe respiratory problems that doctors could not otherwise have diagnosed.

Hundreds of people have been tested and treated for respiratory problems - or “World Trade Center cough” - since New York City’s twin towers fell, most of them suffering from asthma-like breathing difficulties. Some people, however, maintained persistent but unidentifiable coughs that could not be picked up using standard chest computed tomography (CT) scans.

“These people had symptoms that just didn’t fit the typical pattern. They weren’t treated at first because there wasn’t any objective evidence of what was wrong,” says lead author David Mendelson at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, US.

So Mendelson’s team turned to a technique called end-expiratory CT. In a normal chest scan, patients are asked to take a deep breath and hold it. In end-expiratory scans, patients take in a deep breath and release it slowly. In a healthy individual, the entire chest should be seen on the scan as an even grey colour – the CT representation of moving air.

The doctors scanned 29 rescue and recovery workers with unexplained symptoms. In 25 of these they saw splotchy black patches deep down in the finer, branching tubes of their airways. Black spots mean that air is trapped and stagnating in the lungs, making it difficult for the patients to breathe freely.

Pulverised cement

In order to gauge the severity of the air-trapping pattern, the authors developed a visual scale that ranged from 0 to 24. Mendelson says that smokers would probably fall somewhere between 0 to 4 on his scale. The World Trade Center rescue workers, however, averaged 10.55.

The extent of air trapping was found to reflect the amount of time each worker was exposed to the dust and debris of the buildings’ collapse.

The most likely culprit behind this type of airway disease is pulverised alkaline cement, says Mendelson, who presented his findings at the Radiological Society of North America’s meeting in Chicago on Tuesday. All of the subjects are now being treated with anti-inflammatory drugs.

Richard Russell, of the British Thoracic Society in London, UK, is not surprised by the degree of lung tissue damage caused by exposure to the fine cement dust, which is capable of penetrating deeply into the lungs and damaging the delicate tissues found there.

But he warns that the rescue workers’ breathing problems might be permanent: “This is a physical problem that’s not going to go away with simple anti-inflammatories,” he says. “We’ll just have to watch and see if the patients get better over time and make sure they’re not smoking.”

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996741

About time, doctors finally exposed about 9/11 coughs which White House & Insurance companies refused to acknowledge. We will see more news about that 9/11 coughs soon.

posts from hell · 12-01-2004, 06:52 PM

Wow. I knew there would be some health related issues regarding 9/11 stemming up later in the years.

I am sure there will be other things found later on. But dang, Cement. Didn't think it would be from cement. Although there was a lot of cement dust out there.

Levonian · 12-01-2004, 07:19 PM

Wow. Scary.

I'm glad you posted that. The instructions on a bag of Redi-mix clearly state that you should wear respiratory protection and avoid inhalation of the dust. I’ll take that admonition far more seriously next time I mix concrete.

asl_learner · 12-03-2004, 03:05 PM

I hope there is a way to reverse the damage it is ashame that they risked there lives to save people on 9/11 and now they are in poor health because of it. Daniel

Beowulf · 12-03-2004, 03:15 PM

Hmmmm, I have a feeling that this will pale in comparison to the health problems our troops in Iraq will develop from being exposed to all the depleted uranium we have been using in ammo over there.
This is going to be a MONSTROUS problem, with cancer, deformed births, the works.

Vance · 12-03-2004, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beowulf

Hmmmm, I have a feeling that this will pale in comparison to the health problems our troops in Iraq will develop from being exposed to all the depleted uranium we have been using in ammo over there.
This is going to be a MONSTROUS problem, with cancer, deformed births, the works.

I don't think so. Bush dare to deny the proofs about depleted uranium (DU) in Iraq. I forget one man's name.. he works under Bush, he dare to say that DU will not affect our health... he even dare that he would eat it for breakfast and not affect by it.

As long as Bush Admin deny the proofs, our soldiers will have to deal with their health problems without insurance or military's helps. That is pretty sad. And what is even worse... one of crazed doctors in Bush Admin said that DU will cure cancer. I get the feeling that certain people will say that I am on unstable ground... good thing that I have the facts to back me up.

Quote:

Although the Bush Pentagon denies publicly that DU weapons can cause sickness, it's own internal reports warn that the radiation and heavy metal of DU weapons could cause kidney, lung and liver damage and increased rates of cancer. Flanders says the Pentagon continues to deny health problems associated with DU. But Army training manuals require anyone who comes within 75 feet of any DU-contaminated equipment or terrain to wear respiratory and skin protection.

Source: http://www.stopthenato.org/m/zit/id_.../id_s/295.html So why did army training manuals require anyone to wear respiratory and skin protection when Bush Admin denied about it? They are pathetic.

Pentagon Hides DU Dangers to Deny Medical Care to Vets: http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_syndrome.html

CatoCooper13 · 12-03-2004, 04:15 PM

Pity for something like this to happen. Sure hope the medical experts will discover a cure or something that'll help ease the pain/suffering those people affected with it, are going through.

Taylor · 12-04-2004, 01:38 AM

Building structures are not a pretty picture when you get into the ingredients that make them. So many chemicals and various types of materials. Those big clouds of 'dust' we all saw on 9/11 was a lot more than just 'dust'. It had the works in there. Add the fact that a lot of it was burned into the picture and you have a pretty nasty coctail. I believe the result is not going to be just years but decades of health related problems. From the rescue workers to those that were just downwind at a 'safe' distance.

12-01-2004, 06:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
Vance Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 4,280	The mysterious 9/11 cough Inhaling toxic dust from the World Trade Center disaster on 11 September 2001 has damaged some rescue workers’ lungs more than years of smoking, US scientists reveal. Using an unconventional chest scan for the circumstances, researchers were able to capture visual signs of the severe respiratory problems that doctors could not otherwise have diagnosed. Hundreds of people have been tested and treated for respiratory problems - or “World Trade Center cough” - since New York City’s twin towers fell, most of them suffering from asthma-like breathing difficulties. Some people, however, maintained persistent but unidentifiable coughs that could not be picked up using standard chest computed tomography (CT) scans. “These people had symptoms that just didn’t fit the typical pattern. They weren’t treated at first because there wasn’t any objective evidence of what was wrong,” says lead author David Mendelson at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, US. So Mendelson’s team turned to a technique called end-expiratory CT. In a normal chest scan, patients are asked to take a deep breath and hold it. In end-expiratory scans, patients take in a deep breath and release it slowly. In a healthy individual, the entire chest should be seen on the scan as an even grey colour – the CT representation of moving air. The doctors scanned 29 rescue and recovery workers with unexplained symptoms. In 25 of these they saw splotchy black patches deep down in the finer, branching tubes of their airways. Black spots mean that air is trapped and stagnating in the lungs, making it difficult for the patients to breathe freely. Pulverised cement In order to gauge the severity of the air-trapping pattern, the authors developed a visual scale that ranged from 0 to 24. Mendelson says that smokers would probably fall somewhere between 0 to 4 on his scale. The World Trade Center rescue workers, however, averaged 10.55. The extent of air trapping was found to reflect the amount of time each worker was exposed to the dust and debris of the buildings’ collapse. The most likely culprit behind this type of airway disease is pulverised alkaline cement, says Mendelson, who presented his findings at the Radiological Society of North America’s meeting in Chicago on Tuesday. All of the subjects are now being treated with anti-inflammatory drugs. Richard Russell, of the British Thoracic Society in London, UK, is not surprised by the degree of lung tissue damage caused by exposure to the fine cement dust, which is capable of penetrating deeply into the lungs and damaging the delicate tissues found there. But he warns that the rescue workers’ breathing problems might be permanent: “This is a physical problem that’s not going to go away with simple anti-inflammatories,” he says. “We’ll just have to watch and see if the patients get better over time and make sure they’re not smoking.” Source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996741 About time, doctors finally exposed about 9/11 coughs which White House & Insurance companies refused to acknowledge. We will see more news about that 9/11 coughs soon.

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12-01-2004, 06:52 PM	#2 (permalink)
posts from hell the central down under Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 254	Wow. I knew there would be some health related issues regarding 9/11 stemming up later in the years. I am sure there will be other things found later on. But dang, Cement. Didn't think it would be from cement. Although there was a lot of cement dust out there.

12-01-2004, 07:19 PM	#3 (permalink)
Levonian Rattus Norvegicus Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Research facility. Posts: 3,826	Wow. Scary. I'm glad you posted that. The instructions on a bag of Redi-mix clearly state that you should wear respiratory protection and avoid inhalation of the dust. I’ll take that admonition far more seriously next time I mix concrete.

12-03-2004, 03:05 PM	#4 (permalink)
asl_learner Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 32	I hope there is a way to reverse the damage it is ashame that they risked there lives to save people on 9/11 and now they are in poor health because of it. Daniel

12-03-2004, 03:15 PM	#5 (permalink)
Beowulf Premium Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,256	Hmmmm, I have a feeling that this will pale in comparison to the health problems our troops in Iraq will develop from being exposed to all the depleted uranium we have been using in ammo over there. This is going to be a MONSTROUS problem, with cancer, deformed births, the works.

12-03-2004, 04:15 PM	#7 (permalink)
CatoCooper13 Am attached and in LOVE! Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sonoma County, California Posts: 6,418	Pity for something like this to happen. Sure hope the medical experts will discover a cure or something that'll help ease the pain/suffering those people affected with it, are going through.

12-04-2004, 01:38 AM	#8 (permalink)
Taylor Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,594	Building structures are not a pretty picture when you get into the ingredients that make them. So many chemicals and various types of materials. Those big clouds of 'dust' we all saw on 9/11 was a lot more than just 'dust'. It had the works in there. Add the fact that a lot of it was burned into the picture and you have a pretty nasty coctail. I believe the result is not going to be just years but decades of health related problems. From the rescue workers to those that were just downwind at a 'safe' distance.