During the 19th century, asbestos was used when manufacturers and builders relied on it for sound absorption. It was used in many different products throughout this time and it was extremely deadly to be around. Although the first death occurred in 1906 in relation to asbestos, the United States government and the asbestos industry hid the dangers from the general public.
During the 1970s, court documents were revealed that showed the dangers that asbestos had to those who work with it on a regular basis. The fact that it had an extremely dangerous health concern was hidden for nearly 4 decades. Those who worked with asbestos during this time frame were more likely to develop mesothelioma.
After the government learned that asbestos was deadly, it was commonly used in shipyards where 4.3 million World War II workers were exposed to it during the 40s. 60,000 people from this group of workers were killed from mesothelioma and asbestos related diseases. To this day mesothelioma still kills about 93,000 people annually throughout the world.
One of the worst parts about mesothelioma is the timeframe that it can lay dormant in the body. It takes between 20 to 50 years before symptoms begin to surface and by this time it has already increased to be in the later stages of the cancer.
The best chance that a person has of survival is to catch the cancer as early as possible. For this reason, if you experience any of the symptoms that are normally related to mesothelioma and you have worked with asbestos in the past, it is important that you seek metal care as soon as possible. Some of the symptoms of mesothelioma are spitting up blood, fatigue, chest pain, and wheezing.
For those who are diagnosed with mesothelioma, there is only about a 10% expectation that the person will live longer than five years. If the cancer is not caught and treated quickly, it is more likely that the person will have less than a year to live. In the long run, there are only about 20% of those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma that survived longer than 10 years.
If the cancer is found in the earliest stages, doctors may sometimes attempt to perform a surgery in the hopes of removing the mesothelioma. Usually, there is very little success rate with surgery and the average lifespan of the mesothelioma patient is less than a year. However, surgery may still be completed in the hopes that the patient will be more comfortable during this time.
Other treatment methods that are sometimes used are radiation and chemotherapy. At times, these methods are used alongside surgery in the hopes of relieving some of the symptoms or attempting to shrink or slow down the speed of the cancer.
Typically, there is a combination of things that are used to attempt to make the remaining time that the patient has more comfortable and to give them as much time as possible in order to get their affairs in order and their family prepared for the future.