Even if you’re not familiar with the intricacies of the disease, you’ve probably heard of mesothelioma. If you know anything about mesothelioma, you probably know it’s associated with a material known as asbestos, even if you’re not deeply acquainted with what asbestos is and how it works.
Anyone who has worked with asbestos for long enough is going to be at much higher risk for developing mesothelioma. But does asbestos exposure always lead to mesothelioma? And is it possible to get mesothelioma without any asbestos exposure? How exactly does this relationship work?
The Link Between Asbestos and Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops almost exclusively in response to asbestos exposure. If you’ve never been exposed to asbestos in your life, it’s almost impossible for you to develop mesothelioma.
Asbestos itself is a mineral based material that used to be used in all kinds of applications. It’s extremely lightweight, it has tremendous insulating capacity, and it’s resistant to fire, so it’s been used in everything from building insulation to materials for stunt people on film sets. Asbestos was also extremely inexpensive and easy to produce and work with, so before we knew the risks associated with asbestos, we used it everywhere.
Unfortunately, asbestos carries a hidden risk. This material is full of millions of tiny, jagged fibers, which can be sent into the air if the material is disturbed in any way. If you breathe in air that contains these fibers, they can get lodged in the mesothelial lining around your lungs. If you swallow them, they could embed themselves in the mesothelial lining of your abdomen. From there, these fibers can irritate the mesothelial lining, ultimately triggering the development of the appropriately named mesothelioma.
The Short Answer
The short answer is that asbestos exposure doesn’t always lead to mesothelioma. However, your risk of developing mesothelioma increases with the frequency and intensity of your exposure. The more you interact with asbestos, and the less protection you have while doing so, the more likely you are to develop this rare and aggressive disease.
How Much Is Enough?
How much exposure to asbestos is enough to trigger the development of mesothelioma?
Hypothetically, even a passing and fleeting exposure to asbestos could trigger the development of mesothelioma, though the risk is much lower. There are several things that can increase your risk:
- Type of exposure. There are also multiple subtypes of mesothelioma, based on the type and duration of asbestos exposure you encountered. Mesothelioma can develop around the mesothelial lining of many organs, including the lungs, the heart, the abdomen, and even the testicles. Routinely working with asbestos and breathing the air around it once it’s disturbed is going to carry a much higher risk than simply walking through a building where asbestos was used as insulation.
- Length of exposure. The length of your exposure also matters. If you stayed in a building that had asbestos in the ceiling for a week, your risk of mesothelioma is much lower than someone who was in and out of asbestos-containing buildings for decades.
- Frequency of exposure. Similarly, your frequency of exposure matters. Even if you disturb asbestos and breathe in particulate matter produced by it, a one-time incident is only going to increase your risk of mesothelioma slightly. Repeated exposure, even if each exposure doesn’t last long, will increase your risk.
- Protective gear (or absence). As you might imagine, the presence or absence of protective gear can also play a role in your mesothelioma risk. There are no perfect forms of protection from asbestos, but even a simple respiratory mask can mitigate your risk at least slightly. Modern asbestos abatement crews have ample protective gear to keep their risk of mesothelioma to a minimum.
- Underlying vulnerability. Some people are more susceptible to cancer than others. Even if two people have identical rates of asbestos exposure, they might have very different risks of developing mesothelioma in the future. Some people are simply more vulnerable to this disease for genetic reasons.
- Mitigating circumstances. There may also be mitigating circumstances involved. Mesothelioma, like most cancers, is a complex disease that we don’t fully understand.
Analyzing Your Own Risk
If you know you’ve been exposed to asbestos in any capacity, even if your exposure was brief and minimal, you need to be aware of your risk of developing mesothelioma. Although there is no cure for mesothelioma and treatment is very difficult, identifying mesothelioma early can greatly increase your treatment options and increase your chances of living a long and healthy life. If there’s any risk of you developing mesothelioma in the future, pay close attention to potential symptoms that you might develop – and see a doctor right away if you notice anything unusual.
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