Lung disease, 9/11 link seen in rescuers

New York -- A study has confirmed New York City rescue workers at the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks suffered a spike in an uncommon lung disease.

Nine doctors from the city fire department and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found 86 cases per 100,000 workers developed sarcoidosis in the first year after the terror attack. The potentially fatal disease causes scarring in the lungs and other organs, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

That rate was five times higher than the 15 per 100,000 rate for firefighters in the 15 years before the trade center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust, the study said.

Researchers said 26 cases of sarcoidosis had been identified in rescue workers through 2006, although none have proved fatal.

In the peer-reviewed journal Chest, 24 of the workers diagnosed with sarcoidosis said they never smoked tobacco, and the other two were described as ex-smokers.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.