How can someone get mesothelioma?
Asbestos exposure is the primary risk factor for mesothelioma. Asbestos is a mineral that's found naturally in the environment.
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Can people die from Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is supposed to be a rare disease. Unfortunately,...
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How long does it take for Mesothelioma to kill a person?
Surgery and other treatments can be done on a person with Mes...
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What are some ways to get mesothelioma?
Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs wher...
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Is mesothelioma a terminal disease?
It is not always terminal, although it may be. Treatments inc...
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Where can I find a mesothelioma article?
Mesothelioma (cancer of the mesothelium) is a disease in whic...
Top Questions Asked on ChaCha Mobile for Mesothelioma
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Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused...
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What are the symptoms of mesothelioma?
Shortness of breath & chest pain, or weight loss, abdominal p...
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What does mesothelioma do to you?
Complications from spreading cancer As pleural mesothelioma s...
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Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer (malignancy) that most ...
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What is pericardial mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer frequently arising in t...
About Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that primarily affects the lining of the lungs, but can also affect the heart and abdomen. Approximately 2,000 to 3,000 cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States, which is approximately 3 percent of all cancer diagnoses. This cancer occurs about four times more frequently in men than in women. More than 30 percent of those diagnosed with mesothelioma are veterans. All forms of mesothelioma, except for benign mesothelioma, are terminal because there is no cure.
About Asbestos
Asbestos is a mineral fiber insulation with sound absorption, insulating, fire retardant and carcinogenic properties. People have been mining the fiber for thousands of years because of most of those properties. Charlemagne supposedly had a table cloth made of the stuff, and wealthy Persians used it like a party trick – amazing guests by cleaning the cloth by tossing it on the fire. By the industrial revolution, asbestos was widely used as insulation. The United States Navy thought these properties were perfect for insulating war ships and used it to insulate thousands of ships in World War II. By the mid 1930s researchers had documented thousands of cases of people developing lung and breathing disorders in asbestos mining towns.
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