Black Lung Cases Increase in WV

A West Virginia University researcher says he has been seeing a steady stream of coal miners from southern West Virginia with both simple black lung disease and the more advanced form called progressive massive fibroses. Dr. Carl Werntz sees patients at his clinic in Morgantown and at the Cabin Creek Clinic in Dawes. There’s a cluster of 416 cases of complicated black lung disease from three Appalachian clinics from 2013 to 2017 among 11,200 miners observed. Werntz says higher amounts of silica dust in the air, difficult airflow and longer exposure to dust increase risk and may be contributing to the high prevalence.