Asbestosis, mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining, and cancer of the lung are occupational diseases, the result of workers and their families exposure to asbestos' microscopic fibers.
"Mesothelioma is basically a cancer of the 20th century associated with asbestos use," said Dr. J. Rush Pierce, Amarillo's public health authority.
It clearly causes cancer in people who work with it and in people who live with workers. There were a number of epidemiological studies in the 1970s and 1980s that reported about 50 percent of the wives of asbestos workers developed X-ray abnormalities, he said.
Asbestosis symptoms include a cough and shortness of breath, aggravated with exertion, the result of lung stiffness and reduced the lung volume, said Dr. Paul Hancock, a cancer specialist at The Don & Sybil Harrington Cancer Center.
Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, not the lung per se, has the same symptoms.
Diagnosis is made by X-ray and a biopsy, which reveals a distinctive thickening. The masses are usually flat and invade the pleura, causing an accumulation of fluid in the chest, he said.
"The only way that it can be cured is if it is caught extremely early and that usually doesn't happen very often."
In the last two years, some newer drugs offer hope against the illness, he said.
Pierce and Hancock said smoking makes everything about these diseases worse.