Asbestos can cause serious illness

For this topic I will share with you about Asbestos. Asbestos has been shown to cause a number of serious diseases, its very-very serious .These include cancers, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer, and other non-malignant lung diseases such as asbestosis, pleural plaques and pleural thickening.

Did you know what in asbestos. Asbestos was a common building material. Asbestos is the name given to a number of naturally occurring fibrous silicate minerals. It is strong and heat resistant, which is why it has been widely used in a range of products.

Asbestos has been used in roofing, asbestos cement sheets and pipes, clutch and brake linings, insulation, building materials, boilers, electrical fittings, gaskets, floor tiles, plastics, textiles and other products.

Asbestos fibers can cause health problems if they are breathed in. The body will remove most fibers that are breathed in, but some may get trapped in the lungs and cause disease many years later. Breathing in asbestos fibers can sometimes lead to:

1. Asbestosis
2. Lung cancer
3. Pleural disorders
4. Malignant mesothelioma.

Asbestosis

Asbestosis is not a cancer. It is a chronic and progressive lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibers over a long period of time. It may take five to 20 years before symptoms develop. The accumulated, inhaled asbestos fibers produce scarring (fibrosis) of the lung. The lung develops a ‘honeycomb’ appearance. The scar tissue, or ‘fibrosis’, is hard and inflexible; this makes the lungs stiffen and stops them working properly.

Asbestosis causes breathlessness, tightness in the chest, persistent coughing and the skin may have a bluish tinge from lack of oxygen. Getting enough oxygen from each breath needs a much greater effort. Asbestosis usually worsens over time. It can lead to respiratory failure and death. There is no cure for this disease.

Lung cancer

for the last chapter I had show you the Lung Cancer. People exposed to large amounts of asbestos fibers over a long period of time have a significant risk of developing lung cancer. The risk is many times greater in people who also smoke. The tumors, if not treated early, spreads through the lung and eventually to other parts of the body. It is usually diagnosed when someone develops a persistent cough, weight loss and coughs up blood. It usually takes 10 to 20 years for lung cancer to develop after asbestos exposure.

Pleural disorders

The pleura is the tissue that lines the chest cavity and covers the surface of the lungs. Asbestos may produce thickened patches on the pleura (pleural plaques) or a widespread fibrosis of the pleura and pleural effusions (fluid in the chest cavity). These conditions will show up on chest x-rays but they are not cancerous. They may not cause symptoms but will reduce lung capacity as shown in lung function tests.

Malignant mesothelioma

This rare cancer affects the pleura, the outer covering of the lungs. It is strongly associated with past exposure to asbestos. The tumors begins in the pleura and spreads to the lung and chest wall. There is no cure currently available. It can take 30 to 40 years after exposure to asbestos to develop and diagnose.

Australia has the highest national rate of reported mesothelioma in the world, presumably related to the large amount of asbestos used in the past. It is expected that there may be as many as 11,000 cases still to develop and be diagnosed