Mesothelioma Cancer

The history of mesothelioma started in the early 1900s. Mesothelioma history, just as in the discoveries of other major diseases, has a combination of science, politics, medical research and courage. Mesothelioma is a deadly disease that affects the lining of several organs in the body, most commonly the lungs. It is now known that asbestos exposure is the primary cause for this disease; however, for more than 100 years of asbestos mining and production, the link between asbestos and mesothelioma remained obscured.

Lung Disease and Asbestos
In the early 1900s workers at asbestos factories in Britain were experiencing an alarmingly high incidence rate of lung disease. The first reported case of asbestosis in a British asbestos worker occurred in 1906. By the late 1920s, the lung disease problems associated with asbestos mining and production were becoming well known, so much so that the British government commissioned a study in 1930. The study results showed that asbestosis was an occupational disease and was associated with asbestos exposure.
Mesothelioma and Asbestos
The link between lung cancer and asbestos was slower to emerge. While many asbestos workers were dying of lung cancer in the 1930s and 1940s, there was also high growth rate of tobacco use and a high incidence of tuberculosis. Unless an autopsy was performed, it was difficult to determine the exact type of lung cancer that caused death. During this time period, it appears that the asbestos industry officials made little effort to establish the link between asbestos and mesothelioma, even though considerable evidence suggested this link.

The South African Asbestos Mines
After World War II, asbestos mining in South Africa was growing rapidly. South Africa had plenty of cheap labor, and new technology was making asbestos mining much more efficient. Although a well known South African medical researcher noted in 1928 that asbestos exposure could cause danger, he attributed the dangers to asbestos processing, not mining. (South Africa did little processing of asbestos at that time.)
In 1948, South Africa commissioned the first chest and infectious disease hospital in the area of the asbestos mines. The hospital’s first medical superintendent, Chris Sleggs, was the first physician anywhere in the world to see a significant number of malignant mesothelioma cases. He noted the presence of atypical cases of lung disease in the wards. Most cases of tuberculosis recovered with treatment, but a few of the cases appeared to be resistant to the drugs. He began to investigate.
Chris Wagner, a medical researcher, became aware of the atypical lung disease in the mid 1950s. He started a research project to better understand the occupational hazards associated with the asbestos mining. Due to the efforts of Drs. Sleggs and Wagner, along with a third researcher, Ian Webster, by the late 1950s, the connection between mesothelioma and asbestos was well documented.
In 1959, these three researchers attended an international conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. They presented papers, based on their research, showing the connection between mesothelioma and asbestos. After the conference, they combined their data and submitted it to a prestigious British medical journal. Their data showed that of the 33 cases of pleural mesothelioma investigated by them, 32 had proven exposure to asbestos mining.

The production of asbestos is a major industry in a wide range at the beginning of the 20th Century. In countries such as England, South Africa, Australia and the United States, asbestos was mined. Knowledge of the occurrence of asbestos exposure at the beginning of the period for the development of this industry. In 1906, the first medical report of a person dying because of the lung fibrosis was published.

The evidence for asbestosis has many companies in different asbestos in the United Kingdom in late 1920. The government in 1930 shows the dramatic impact of asbestos will be an investigation. He said that the proportion of the disease would be geometrically when the employees, who for more than ten years, in the presence of asbestos. He also pointed out that the proportion of the disease could be reduced if the asbestos dust under control of the atmosphere. The disease develops, especially in the people directly involved in working with asbestos.

During the year 1930 the removal of malignant mesothelioma began to develop. Later, he was slow in relation to asbestos. There was a knowledge that the majority of deaths in the industry because of lung cancer. Tuberculosis was also widespread in the period. The need for an autopsy, to know how exactly the kind of death, to analyze whether the cancer cells that are in the mésothélium or from certain other diseases.

The biggest difficulty came with the period of time in the empty mésothélium and for the issue of asbestos. Because the symptoms are similar to this murderous with various other diseases, and many people have been diagnosed later, after asbestos and when the disease develops, with more than gravity.

In 1959, three researchers have developed and presented at a seminar in South Africa impressive evidence of a link between asbestos and mesothelioma. The study appeared shockingly large scores against the asbestos industry and its impact. One of the major holders concealing the facts of the industry have been developed to save the industry, the asbestos as the protection of workers. Several disputes have been developed for the fulfillment of people who developed mesothelioma with asbestos exposure. The prosecution helped by a maximum of damages by the large companies, the asbestos abuse.