Is Mesothelioma a Sleeping Dragon?
It is a substance that occurs naturally and it has been said to be a miracle mineral. Asbestos is a collection of minerals that can be made to exist as strong masses of sheets or flexible fibers. It is a poor conductor of electricity and is also used as an insulator against electricity. It is estimated that over 5,000 products have or had asbestos in them.Of the six types of asbestos, only four are used commercially.
At present, chrysotile is still being mined, the only form of asbestos to be produced commercially. Three types of asbestos found are chrysotile, amosite and crocidolite. In the USA, there are mesothelioma awareness groups in almost every city in the USA. However, most people will be surprised to notice the large number of asbestos products in their living and work environments, that are poorly maintained. It is when asbestos is broken down and fibres are released that there is concern.Asbestos fibres are very thin and sharp.
Hence, the most common types of asbestos-related diseases occur in the human chest and lungs.When the fibers of asbestos are viewed through a microscope, they appear sharp. They are so many times smaller and thinner than the human hair! Since this ailment is fatal in most cases, it is best that measures are taken to prevent it. Radon is odorless, colorless and is invisible to the naked eye. The fibers are small and light and can stay afloat for a long time and can travel great distances from their source. When fibres are inhaled they become lodged in the alveoli of the lungs and over a period of time these fibres make tissue and cells abnormal and cause mesothelioma cancer. Some remain in the lungs, others gravitate into the pleural lining.Asbestos exposure can lead to disease and develops over a long period of time.
Lung cancer typically develops over a long period of time. Asbestos fibers can cause a variety of dangerous diseases, including asbestosis, pleural plaques, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Although breathing in fibrous asbestos can also cause lung cancer, mesothelioma is different from lung cancer in that it affects the lining of the lungs rather than the lung as a whole. Like any other cancers, lung cancers are thought to develop over the course of many years. This had again highlighted the poor prognosis of mesothelioma victims. There are also a number of patients who may not exactly recall when and where they were exposed to asbestos. It may well be that he was inadvertently exposed to asbestos without his knowledge i.e.
Asbestos cases will continue to increase and it is estimated to peak around the year 2025, according to experts.
“We also know that people who has a history of asbestos exposure has a greater risk of lung cancer if they smoked. The survey found one in 10 had felt under pressure to continue working even if they had not seen a survey for the building and suspected that the dangerous fiber was present. The risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the number of years the person has smoked. Smokers have 11 to 18 times greater risk of developing lung cancer than non-smokers. It acts as a co-factor when the person is exposed to another risk factor, amplifying the possibility of developing mesothelioma.GETTING CHECKEDIt is not easy to diagnose mesothelioma. However, the combination of smoking and asbestos exposure significantly increases a person’s risk of developing cancer of the air passageways in the lung.
This is because the diseases caused due to asbestos exposure have a long latency period. Individual veterans, and, in some cases, their families, are filing legal claims to hold responsible parties accountable for the suffering caused by asbestos-induced lung disease.
“Hopefully, as experts predict, within the next few years asbestos related diseases will peak and the annual new cases will drop. That was proven back in 1931.Emotional conflict can weaken our immune system and that is well recognised. Asbestos was used in the construction of the North Tower of the WTC and hundreds of tons were released into the atmosphere when the building collapsed.
In particular they discovered that the very fine fibres that make up asbestos are easily released when the material is handled. The attack on the Twin Towers was a horrific act, but the problems were multiplied when it was realized that the North Tower had tons of asbestos used in its building materials. All of those materials contained asbestos fibers, which are now known to be toxic. This may show why in the 1990’s litigation of cases involving asbestos rose from 20,000 plaintiffs to 100,000. Compensation is the greatest factor that drives people; it is considered as the greatest motivator of all things. People who die of Mesothelioma usually die from related complications, such as lung failure, heart problems, stroke and other causes therefore its early detection is must. An October 2005 report states that a new method that assists diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma is to measure the presence of osteopontin in blood. The latency period or the time that it takes to develop is usually very long and the disease may have occurred without any symptoms. Furthermore, researches have concluded that a patient with prior exposure to asbestos may develop mesothelioma much later in his/her life, i.e.
Asbestos was also one of the materials used in the construction of the World Trade Centre. New cases of asbestos related health problems will continue to be diagnosed every year at a rate of nearly 3,000 cases for mesothelioma alone. Like many cancers, it can result in suffering and restricted quality of life – but what makes this disease unique is that it only occurs in people exposed to asbestos.
Benign pleural diseases appear various years after the exposure to asbestos and according to some experts cause little or no trouble, since some people do not even show symptoms. It is high time these countries wake up and follow the footsteps of its western counterparts.