Mining Work and Health Problems in the Eastern Region of Morocco

Silicosis, due to the inhalation of silica dust, is by far the most common form of pneumoconiosis, and is also one of the most important occupational diseases, killing thousands of people every year worldwide. This is a retrospective study of the records of 50 silicosis patients from the city of Jerada, whose follow-up and management are carried out in the Diagnostic Center for Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases in Oujda. The age of declaration of the disease of these former coal miners who are all male, is between 23 and 69 years with a peak of frequency is between 30 and 39 years. The average duration of exposure to the silicogenic risk is about 14 years, with a peak frequency between 11 and 20 years. The duration of follow-up and management is between one year and 50 years, with a peak frequency between 20 and 29 years. This study is also interested in pulmonary tuberculosis at the level of the laboratory of anti-tuberculosis Oujda, the collection of results is from the supports of analysis carried out at the laboratory, and whose traceability is made on registers and a computerized database. The results of our study show that pulmonary tuberculosis is more frequent in men (71.42%) than in women (28.57%), with a sex ratio (male/female) of 2.49. The rate of positive slides is 8.89% in 2020 and 6.96% in 2021, while the GeneXpert shows a rate of 67% of positive cases in 2020 and 52% in 2021. Finally, GeneXpert is more specific than bacilloscopy and culture, it is the most reliable diagnostic method of pulmonary tuberculosis, as it detects the bacteria of tuberculosis complex with more accuracy, in addition to an advantage of detecting the rate of resistance to Rifampicin, which is the prescribed antituberculosis treatment in current medicine.