I Breathed In Asbestos

Q: I think that I breathed in asbestos while doing some home repairs. What should I do? Should I be worried about Mesothelioma?

A: Asbestos exposure can be very dangerous, so you have every right to be worried.

Asbestos is a very dangerous substance and exposure to asbestos can lead to diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. These diseases are often fatal.

To make matters even worse, asbestos fibers are nearly indestructible. They do not dissolve in water, they do not burn, and they do not evaporate over time.

When asbestos fibers are breathed in, they may get trapped in the lungs. Levels of fibers in lung tissue build up over time, but some fibers, particularly chrysotile fibers, can be removed from or degraded in the lung with time.

But keep in mind, low levels of asbestos do not present a major health risk. In fact asbestos minerals are widespread in the environment.

They may occur in large natural deposits, or as contaminants in other minerals. For example, tremolite asbestos may occur in deposits of chrysotile, vermiculite, and talc.

Asbestos may be found in soil that is formed from the erosion of asbestos-bearing rock. You are most likely to be exposed to asbestos by breathing in asbestos fibers that are suspended in air.

These fibers can come from naturally occurring sources of asbestos or from the wearing down or disturbance of manufactured products including insulation, automotive brakes and clutches, ceiling and floor tiles, dry wall, roof shingles, and cement.

However, these products do not always contain asbestos. And as we mentioned, low levels of asbestos that present little, if any, risk to your health can be detected in almost any air sample.

How Can I Find Out if I Am at Risk?
The most common test used to determine if you have received sustained exposure to asbestos is a chest x-ray. A chest x-ray is recommended for detecting exposure to asbestos only in persons who have sustained relatively heavy exposure.

A chest x-ray is of no value for detecting evidence of asbestos exposure in a person whose exposure to asbestos has been only brief or transient.

The x-ray cannot detect the asbestos fibers themselves, but it can detect early signs of lung disease caused by asbestos.

While other substances besides asbestos can sometimes produce similar changes in the lungs, this test is usually reliable for detecting asbestos-related effects produced by long-term exposures at relatively high concentrations of asbestos fibers.

Other tests, such as gallium-67 lung scanning and high-resolution computed tomography, are also useful in detecting changes in the lungs.

However, there are currently no means of detecting exposure-related effects from commonly encountered environmental exposures.