Joseph Lieutaud is credited with describing two cases of probable mesothelioma in a study of 3,000 autopsies, and E. Wagner recognized the disease as a pathologic entity in 1870. However the existence of malignant mesothelioma as a distinct clinical entity was debated till 1960s. Case reports of fast growing lung cancer different from the regular lung cancers were reported prior to 1960. Malignant mesothelioma became a well-recognized clinical entity shortly after the publication by Wagner et al in South Africa, which is considered a primer in mesothelioma. They reported 33 cases of mesothelioma occurring in persons between the ages of 31 and 68 years in a South African mining community. An addendum to this paper was published later and added 14 more cases of mesothelioma. This report showed increased incidence of mesothelioma even in those who had no occupational exposure, but lived close the facility, which processes asbestos. Few of these patients who developed mesothelioma had occupational exposure to asbestos. Others had significant exposure to asbestos by virtue of their proximity to asbestos mines and mills. Most of these patients lived the whole life in the same community and were exposed to asbestos from childhood. This was only the beginning. This report soon followed many reports of mesothelioma associated with asbestos exposure from various parts of the world.
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