Publications by authors named "Elizabeth Wilk-Rivard"
This article reviews the experience of a unique occupational group of World Trade Center (WTC) workers: immigrant workers. This group is comprised largely of men, laborers, who are first-generation immigrants. The majority of these workers are from Latin America (predominantly from Ecuador and Colombia) or from Eastern Europe (predominantly from Poland).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Chronic exposure to talc in the course of carpet installation can result in pneumoconiosis.
Case Presentation: We present a case of a young carpet installer who was diagnosed with silicatosis of the lung. Review of occupational history revealed that the patient had been working as a carpet installer for approximately 15 years, since he was 15 years of age.
Background: Surveillance for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in the United States has become a focus of public health attention due to concerns about disease acquired through exposure to transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in other species. A definitive diagnosis requires neuropathologic examination, yet concerns about the invasiveness of procedures and infection control may be barriers to brain biopsy or autopsy in patients with suspected CJD.
Methods: We reviewed medical records of 50 of the 97 patients identified through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health CJD surveillance system for 1991-2001 and of an additional 21 patients in whom CJD was suspected but later ruled out.