One in Three Mesothelioma Deaths Go Unreported in Brazil
Brazil has a history of underreporting mesothelioma deaths and the trend is not improving. That is the word from Brazilian public health experts. Their new report appears in a recent issue of Occupational Medicine. Researchers from the Institute of Collective Health in Salvador examined electronic medical records from across the country. They compared them with the official record of asbestos related diseases (ARDs) in Brazil’s Mortality Information System. They discovered that more than 300 mesothelioma deaths were missing from the roughly 1000 deaths reported between 2008 and 2014. The researchers say such underreporting makes it harder to evaluate “remedial policies” that could help prevent asbestos-linked illnesses. Asbestos in Brazil Asbestos is the primary cause of mesothelioma deaths worldwide. Mesothelioma is a…