UK’s Asbestos (Mesothelioma) Related Illnesses to Rise-- MesoLink.org -- 06-29-04

The UK, along with other countries around the world, is expected to hit a rise in asbestos related illnesses and deaths, such as mesothelioma, which could put the country in to an epidemic, according to British doctors.

Reports in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claim that around 100,000 people who are living and appear healthy at the moment, will eventually die from Mesothelioma. The long latency period of this disease, which can take several decades to manifest following contraction, means that many people who have been affected by it won’t even know for a number of years.

Doctors believe that the death rate for this disease will rocket over the next decade or two, and that Britain will join America in an asbestos related epidemic. Even with new regulation relating to asbestos in the workplace, which have been brought in over the last couple of years, the death toll is expected to rise dramatically, as the people who will be diagnosed with the disease are those that worked with asbestos twenty or thirty years ago when there were no real regulations or protection in place.

Doctors throughout Britain and across the world are being urged to familiarise themselves with the early signs of mesothelioma in order to try and make an early diagnosis. This can lead to early treatment which could in turn help to prolong the patients’ lives.