Italy’s Battle Against Mesothelioma: National Case Tracking
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Italy’s Battle Against Mesothelioma: National Case Tracking

ByHolly Zink

A study by Italian researchers shows how tracking mesothelioma cases at a national level can help to measure the impact of asbestos exposure. Unveiling the Toll of Asbestos Exposure Mesothelioma is an aggressive type of cancer, and it is also rare. The cancer grows in the lining of internal organs like the lungs. It is hard to diagnose and treat, and the outlook for patients is usually poor. Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has been found throughout the world. It used to be widely used in construction and manufacturing before its toxic effects were discovered. Many countries banned the use of asbestos, but other countries continue to use this dangerous material. How…

Is Mesothelioma Still A Big Problem Worldwide?
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Is Mesothelioma Still A Big Problem Worldwide?

ByHolly Zink

Even though the number of people getting mesothelioma and dying from it has gone down in recent years, it is still a big problem in many parts of the world. This is the finding of an international team of scientists. The authors of this study are from South Korea, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. These scientists wanted to find out how many people get mesothelioma and how many people die from it. They also wanted to know how it affects different groups of people based on things like age and where they live. Harmful Use of Asbestos Mesothelioma is a type of cancer caused by asbestos, a harmful material that was used a lot after World War…

Worldwide Mesothelioma Rates Decline
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Worldwide Mesothelioma Rates Decline

ByHolly Zink

A new study looked at the worldwide rates of mesothelioma over the past decade. The international team of researchers hailed from China, Sweden, Australia, the Philippines, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The researchers used information from three different databases to learn about the number of cases and what might cause the disease. The Global Cancer Observatory, Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Plus, and Global Burden of Disease provided data for this study. Banning Asbestos Worldwide Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that develops from cells of the mesothelium, the lining that covers many of the internal organs of the body. Sites of mesothelioma are typically the outer lining of the lungs and chest wall and the abdomen….

30 Years of Global Rise in Mesothelioma Cases
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30 Years of Global Rise in Mesothelioma Cases

ByHolly Zink

A new study has found that the rate of mesothelioma cases around the world has continued to increase over the past 30 years. The study was published in Critical Reviews in Oncology and Hematology. The study researchers summarized the most recent worldwide patterns in mesothelioma burden. It is the most recent and thorough study on the annual incidence, mortality, and loss of lifespan for mesothelioma. Mesothelioma and Asbestos Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is caused by exposure to asbestos. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral found throughout the world and is toxic to humans. Many countries have banned or tried to limit the use of asbestos. Unfortunately, asbestos is still used in many places around the world. It…

Scientific Evidence That Asbestos Bans Prevent Mesothelioma
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Scientific Evidence That Asbestos Bans Prevent Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

There is some hopeful news on the mesothelioma front this week. A new study conducted in Sweden suggests asbestos bans are doing what they are designed to do – reduce the incidence of mesothelioma. As in many other countries, including the US, asbestos was used in Sweden for decades in multiple industries. Until about the 1960s, workers around the world were largely unprotected from this deadly toxin because the link between asbestos and mesothelioma had not yet been clearly established. After scientific evidence was released showing a direct correlation between asbestos and mesothelioma, many countries, including Sweden instituted bans on the use or importation of asbestos. Health experts have attempted to model what the outcomes of those bans would be….

UK Study Finds Location Influences Mesothelioma Survival
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UK Study Finds Location Influences Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

An analysis of the largest ever study group of mesothelioma patients suggests that survival may depend largely on how much experience a patient’s local hospital has with the disease. The study was conducted at six different hospitals or universities in England and included 8,740 mesothelioma patients whose data was collected for the UK National Lung Cancer Audit. The group represented about 80 percent of the total mesothelioma cases in the region between 2008 and 2012. Most of the patients (83%) were men and their median age was 73. The researchers found significant differences in the way mesothelioma cases were handled in different parts of the country. These differences appeared to have an impact on mesothelioma outcomes. For instance, while performance…

Report Highlights Mesothelioma Danger in Home Repairs
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Report Highlights Mesothelioma Danger in Home Repairs

ByAlex Strauss

A new article published in a Danish medical journal highlights the potential mesothelioma danger of certain kinds of do-it-yourself home repairs. Mesothelioma is a highly aggressive and currently incurable cancer of body membranes caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos dust. Most mesothelioma patients have a history of working in an occupation, such as construction, manufacturing, or asbestos mining that exposed them to the toxin over an extended period of time. But a growing number of mesothelioma cases worldwide are being reported in people who have no occupational history with asbestos. Instead, these people are being exposed to asbestos while doing repairs or renovations in their own homes. The two newly published cases from Denmark are prime examples. Occupational medicine…

Report Finds Mesothelioma “Grossly Under-Recognized” in Spain
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Report Finds Mesothelioma “Grossly Under-Recognized” in Spain

ByAlex Strauss

The newly-published study, was conducted by the Ministry of Health in Madrid and the Department of History of Science at the University of Granada. According to the report, although asbestos-related occupational cancers like mesothelioma were added to the Spanish list of occupational diseases in 1978, “there are no full accounts of compensated cases since their inclusion”. The goal of the study was to analyze the number of asbestos-related cancers that had been recognized as stemming from patients’ occupations. The researchers analyzed the incidence of mesothelioma by year, economic activity, and occupation and compared the mortality rates of mesothelioma and work-related lung cancer to rates in the rest of Europe. The study found that, between 1978 and 2011, 164 asbestos-related occupational…

Can Mesothelioma Be Genetic?
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Can Mesothelioma Be Genetic?

ByAlex Strauss

A new study out of Italy suggests that a person is more likely to be diagnosed with mesothelioma if a sibling has the disease. That is especially true if both siblings were also exposed to asbestos. Scientists from Sapienza University and the Lazio Regional Health Service in Rome, as well as industrial disease experts from Viterbo, Italy searched a database including 10 percent of the Italian population to find familial clusters of mesothelioma cases. Among the 997 cases of mesothelioma recorded between 1980 and 2012, the team found 34 familial cases and 13 clusters. Together, these clusters accounted for 3.4% of all mesotheliomas in the database. “The most common clusters were those with affected siblings and unaffected parents,” reports Associate…

Most Canadian Mesothelioma Cases Go Unreported
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Most Canadian Mesothelioma Cases Go Unreported

ByAlex Strauss

Less than half of asbestos workers diagnosed with mesothelioma file claims for workers’ compensation, even though most of those who do file receive compensation, according to a Canadian study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Mesothelioma is a type of lung cancer that has been linked to asbestos exposure. Most of that exposure has occurred in jobs where people work with the fibrous mineral. Up to 40 years can elapse between the time when a worker is exposed to asbestos and when he or she is diagnosed with mesothelioma. Similar to the United States, workers’ compensation in Canada covers medical costs for workers who are injured on the job. This coverage can be an invaluable help to both…