This form is progressive and often fatal. Unfortunately for Blevins, his silicosis was progressing at a very rapid pace. The coal miner isn't sure when he contracted the disease. But for three consecutive months in late 1993, he remembers, he was heavily exposed to silica dust while cutting through a thick sandstone wall to get at a coal seam. Every night he'd come home utterly exhausted and covered from head to toe with the telltale white dust.
Some workers think of silicosis as a disease of the past.
During 1968 to 1994, the federal government recorded a total of 14,824 silicosis-associated deaths. Cocalis has monitored surface coal mine drillers in West Virginia since 1992. Quarry workers, sandblasters, and foundry workers are among those most affected. In all these trades, prevention is important because no good treatment has been found to reverse the disease. Although corticosteroids, some immunosuppressive drugs, and a few experimental medications appear to slow down the inflammation, the effect is only temporary.