According to The National Cancer Institute,
malignant
mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, is a disease in which cancer
(malignant) cells are found in the sac lining of the chest (pleura),
the abdomen (peritoneum), or the heart (pericardium). Most people
diagnosed with mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they breathed
asbestos.
Asbestos may cause a variety of diseases, from non-cancerous forms
such as asbestosis, to much more serious diseases such as mesothelioma.
Workers exposed to asbestos in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, are coming
down with these diseases decades later due to the long latency period
associated with all asbestos disease.
Reported incidence rates of mesothelioma have increased
in the past 20 years, however mesothelioma is still a relatively rare
cancer. About 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the
United States each year. Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than
in women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear
in either men or women at any age.
