Israel City Has One of Highest Rates of Mesothelioma

The city of Nahariya and surrounding area on the northern coast of Israel has one of the highest concentrations of people with mesothelioma in the world, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

The incidence of the disease in the area reached 5.72 per 100,000 residents between 2002 and 2008, Dr. Micha Bar-Hana, director of the Israel Health Ministry's cancer registry, said at a conference at Petah Tikva's Medical Center. That compares to a rate of 3.55 cases per 100,000 people seven years ago.

Nahariya was home to the only asbestos plant in the nation, which was shut down in 1997. Mesothelioma develops several decades after exposure. Most cases involve people who worked with asbestos. Health experts expect the number of cases will go up in coming decades.

The area around Genoa, Italy, has the highest rate of asbestos-related cancer cases in the world with 5.8 cases per 100,000 people, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Dr. Avi Weiner, an expert in work-related diseases in Haifa, said that people who were in close contact with those who were directly exposed also were at risk of developing mesothelioma. He said he'd seen two cases of wives who became ill because their husband's clothes carried asbestos particles.

Nahariya Story

posted by Wade Rawlins at 2:35 PM