Asbestos can cause serious diseases including cancers, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer, and other non-malignant lung diseases such as asbestosis. Every year in Australia, hundreds of people die from asbestos-related disease. This material was in common use before the dangers to health were widely known. Types of asbestos diseases are: mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. An asbestos disease is an illness that is caused by asbestos exposure. There are several types of asbestos disease however the most common are mesothelioma. Asbestos diseases are receiving increased attention as the numbers of people with diseases that are directly traceable to asbestos exposure continue to rise.
Asbestosis is interstitial fibrosis specifically due to inhaled asbestos. Widespread asbestos pollution has occurred in both the United Kingdom and South Africa resulting in certain areas with extremely high levels of illness. Lung disease from exposure to asbestos can be divided into three main types: 1) asbestosis, 2) disease of the lining of the lung (pleura), and 3) lung cancer. Asbestos-related lung disease occurred at very high rates toward the middle of the 20th century, when patients who were exposed decades earlier to asbestos eventually developed disease. British asbestos workers were among the first who were observed to have lung cancer related to asbestos.
