Vietnam now has some 9,000 cases of pneumoconiosis due to dust containing silica, accounting for 80 percent of all occupational diseases in the country, local media reported Wednesday.

The northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Thai Nguyen, which house many coal mines and metallurgy plants, have nearly 1,445 and 579 pneumoconiosis patients, respectively, Vietnam Economic Times reported without quoting sources.

To reduce the infection rates, relevant state agencies and enterprises are enhancing public awareness about the disease, asking workers to use proper protective gears. They are also establishing more medical check facilities for early pneumoconiosis detection.

Pneumoconiosis is a disease of the lungs caused by long-term inhalation of particulate matter, especially mineral or metallic dust. Many coal miners suffer from a specific form of pneumoconiosis, silicosis, a chronic occupational lung disease contracted by the prolonged breathing of coalmine dust which contains silica and carbon.

Source: Xinhua