The Word
pneumono: Greek — ‘lung’, ‘lung-related’
ultra: Latin — ‘beyond’
micro: Greek — ‘small’
scopic: Greek — ‘looking’
silico: Latin — ‘like sand’
volcano: Latin — ‘volcano’
konis: Greek — ‘dust’
osis: Greek — ‘condition’
The word is pronounced: NOO-muh-noh-uhl-truh-mahy-kruh-skop-ik-SIL-i-koh-vol-kay-noh-koh-nee-OH-siss
Click HERE to hear the pronunciation.
What is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (since 1936), 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust find in volcanoes'. It is the longest word ever to appear in an English dictionary.
There are four types of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: chronic, asymptomatic, acute and accelerated. This definition will only describe the most common one, called the 'chronic form'.
How do you get it?
You can contract this disease by getting exposed to dust silica for long periods of time (at least 15 years).
What happens in your body?
When you inhale dust, it goes into the alveoli (see diagram), a tiny sac for holding air in the lungs and where carbon dioxide and oxygen are exchanged when you breathe.
As explained by 'The Australian Lung Company', the presence of this dust creates a reaction in your body: white blood cells release particular proteins to regulate and defend the immune system. Consequently, some stimulation happens in your lungs, resulting in fibrosis. Fibrosis is the development of excess fibrous connective tissue in an organ (Wordreference). When the inhaled dust is volcano silica, it is called Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
What are the symptoms?
The main symptoms are equivalent to having a cold. More severe cases can generate faster breathing, severe coughing, a hoarse throat, loss of appetite and/or chest pain (www.bbc.co).
How can it be detected?
One easy way to detect it is a chest X-Ray. If you are affected, the X-Ray should show some nodes throughout your lungs. The more nodes (whitish particles in the X-Ray) you have, the more heavily affected you are.
How is it treated?
'Crystalline Silica: Health Hazards and Precautions' explains that the only real cure for this disease is lung transplantation. But to avoid making the disease worse you should follow these precautions:
_Avoid areas containing further harmful particles
_Take cough medications
_See doctor about anti-biotic to make sure that the disease doesn’t spread
References
h2g2 Researchers, (6th August 2007).
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - The Longest Word.
Retrieved February 15, 2008, from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A24833397
The Australian lung foundation, (2002).
Silica-related Lung Diseases. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from
http://www.lungnet.org.au/fact_sheets/Silica%20related%20lung%20disease.html
Dr David Stanton, Dr Eva Hnizdo, Prof David Rees, Ms Engela Venter, Mr Vali Yousefi and Ms Teresa Whitford (February 1999).
Crystalline Silica: Health Hazards and Precautions. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from
http://www.asosh.org/Programmes/SORDSA/Crystalline_silica.htm
Harvey Simon, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital, (2nd May 2007).
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from
http://adam.about.com/reports/Chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease.htm
X- Ray Picture from "Nodular shadows in the lungs" (2005). Retrieved February 15, 2008 from
http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/dirt/museum/gs-fifth.html