Link between coal and tuberculosis

From one of the world's best blogs, BoingBoing: Guy sez, "I am a cell and molecular biologist located in Montreal, and interested in the environment, history and disease-related issues--among other things. I published last summer, in the July issue of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD), a peer-reviewed international scientific journal, a paper about the impact of air pollution by coal on the emergence of tuberculosis during industrialization, and nowadays in China, entitled 'Historical Statistics Support a Hypothesis linking Tuberculosis and Air Pollution Caused by Coal.' The figure 4 of the paper is very striking in that it strongly suggests a direct correlation between overall coal consumption in China, and TB disease in the last 25 years. As you know, China is very big on coal consumption -- some analysts say that one coal plant opens per month in Asia." Link (Thanks, Guy!)