Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fibers in other ways. It was suggested that washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos can put a person at risk of developing mesothelioma. Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking, but smoking greatly increases the risk of other asbestos-induced cancer. Compensation via asbestos funds or lawsuits is an important issue in mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma symptoms include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall) or chest wall pain, and general symptoms such as weight loss. The diagnosis can be suspected with chest rad iograph and CT scan, and confirmed with a biopsy (tissue sample) and microscopic examination.
Mesothelioma, though rare, has had a significant number of patients. Hamilton Jordan, chief of staff for President Jimmy Carter and life long cancer activist, died in 2008. Australian anti-racism activist Bob Bell died in 2005. British science fiction writer Michael G. Coney, responsible for nearly 100 works also died in 2005. Actor, TV Paul Gleason, perhaps best known for her role as director Richard Vernon in the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club, died in 2006. Mickie Most, an English producer, died of mesothelioma in 2003. Paul Rudolph, an American architect known for his cubist building designs, died in 1997.
Read more: http://www.bnu.com/mesothelioma-a-cancer-caused-by-asbestos/
