Disease & Effects
Mole Lung is a disease prevalent among miners in
Mae's Mountains, the Eastmarches, and Coquet Heights regions of
Anhara. Here, where most deep mines in the nation are located, prolonged exposure to underground air has led to the deterioration of workers' lungs. The brightest intellectual minds of the nation believe that the dust in the air is taken into the lungs, and there it bounces around until settling on the bottom, reducing the breathing capacity of the victim. Up until recent remedies, this was a fatal process, continuing until the lungs had filled to such a point that sufficient breathing was impossible, and the victim died.
Treatment
For a time, it was believed that smoking, a long
tradition in Anhara, would help cure Mole Lung. The smoke from pipes was thought to counteract the dust in the lungs, burning it out and allowing the victim a longer life. However, this has since been found to be incorrect, as researchers now believe smoking, in fact, exacerbates the process, filling the lungs with more smoke and dust. However, this has not led to a decline in smoking amongst miners.
Recently, an abatement of the disease has been found. With merchants facing a decrease in revenue with an increase in miner deaths, a hunt was began for a potential cure or at least a way to lessen the disease. After months of searching, a small plant in the
Julfar Savanna of
al-Tahat was found to greatly reduce dust accumulation if ground down and combined with a liquid. This process is painful, however, as the consumption of the resulting liquid leads to intense bouts of coughing, which allows the dust to escape the lungs. This is believed to be the reason why Mole Lung has not been prevalent across the
Narrow Sea, where miners from al-Tahat engage in the exact same type of excavations as their counterparts in the Eastmarches, with no rate of Mole Lung.
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