Onitilo et al
PDF DL
http://www.clinmedres.org/content/8/2/99
"Anthracosis is a form of pneumoconiosis seen in coal workers, although other environmental factors such as cigarette smoke, air pollution and biomass fuels used extensively for cooking and home heating are also known to cause anthracosis.1–6 The terms “hut lung” or “domestically acquired particulate lung disease” have been used to describe the condition.7 A diagnostic feature in anthracosis is the black-colored deposits along the airway or lymph nodes. Problems caused by chronic exposure to biomass smoke and other particulates, such as dust or silicates from food grinding, are becoming more relevant in the western world due to immigration.7,8 Individuals may develop both physical and radiologic abnormalities of the lung presenting as chronic obstructive or fibrotic lung disease due to chronic exposure to smoke and particulates. Recent estimates attribute 1.5 to 2 million deaths per year worldwide to indoor air pollution, most of them (1 million) occurring in children younger than 5 years due to acute respiratory infections, but also in women due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer."
"Our patient had a recent history of tuberculosis and a life-long history of exposure to wood-stove soot. An important question is, which came first? Tuberculosis can remain dormant in the body for decades. Dust deposition and scar formation are common findings in old lymphadenitis due to tuberculosis; therefore, one can argue that the inflammation induced by tuberculosis in the mediastinal lymph nodes may be the inciting stimulus for the final mass in this patient. However, the converse may be the case; environmental exposure to wood soot may be an immunosuppressive event in which the host’s cellular immunity action is diverted to engulfing anthracosis leading to impairment of respiratory defenses against mycobacteria."
