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Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that is typically caused by the inhalation of asbestos. With mesothelioma, tumors form in the tissues that line such organs as the lungs, stomach, and heart. Those who are diagnosed with mesothelioma are treated with the same methods that are used to treat various other kinds of cancers, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Normally, mesothelioma develops about 40 years or so after exposure, and the greater the person's exposure, the higher the odds that mesothelioma will eventually develop. Typically, those with mesothelioma had direct, substantial contact with asbestos, whether they inhaled it by working with it themselves, or whether they lived with someone who regularly worked with asbestos and perhaps even laundered that person's clothes.
The prognosis of mesothelioma is not a good one, especially for men, who are typically given about one year to live upon diagnosis. If the cancer is found in the tissues of the heart, the prognosis drops by about two months. Interestingly, women, younger people, and those who are already suffering from certain kinds of cancers actually have, on average, a better prognosis with mesothelioma.
Despite the fact that reported cases of mesothelioma had been on the rise in the past couple of decades, the disease is still considered pretty rare. As of May 2016, the American Cancer Society had reported that newly reported cases are actually on the decline.
Tunisia and Morocco have the lowest rates of mesothelioma in the world with less than one reported case per every one million people. Australia, Belgium, and Britain have the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world, but even that number is low, with 30 reported cases per every one million people. To compare, in cultures where smoking is more prominent, it is not unheard of for lung cancer statistics to total 1,000 reported cases per every one million people.
Even when people are subjected to significant and prolonged exposure to asbestos, only between two and ten percent of those people will actually go on to develop pleural mesothelioma, which is the most common form of the cancer. Considering that, per the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 11 million people had been exposed to asbestos between 1940 and 1978, and that the 40-year mark has passed for most of those people, the rate of diagnosis isn't terrible.
What is important to note is that survival statistics are updated every five years. This means that if statistics had just been measured, and a new treatment arrived on the market that is doing wonders in fighting the battle against cancer, those recovered patients will not factor into the overall statistical picture until another five years has passed. So while the prognosis right now may not be great, statistically speaking, those numbers may not be accounting for new treatments that patients are receiving at this current time.