Posted on October 19, 2026

Important Notice: ADAO does not make medical diagnoses, recommend individual treatments, or answer specific patient medical questions. Medical concerns should be discussed directly with your physician or treatment team.

Health literacy is not only about preventing exposure. It is also about knowing your exposure history, recognizing changes in your health, asking informed questions, and knowing when to seek medical care.

Asbestos is a known human carcinogen that causes mesothelioma and cancers of the lung, larynx, and ovary and can also cause asbestosis and other nonmalignant lung and pleural diseases.

One of the greatest challenges is time.

Asbestos-caused diseases often have very long latency periods. A person may feel completely healthy for decades after an exposure. The National Cancer Institute reports that symptoms may not appear until 10 to 40 years or more after exposure.

ADAO’s 2026 Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Series

October 1 — Health Literacy Month Landing Page
October 5 — Part One: Prevent Asbestos Exposure
October 12 — Part Two: Recognize High-Risk Occupations and Exposures
October 19 — Part Three: Understand the Warning Symptoms of Asbestos-Related Diseases
October 26 — Part Four: Finding a Center of Excellence for Treatment

Know Your Exposure History

Your physician cannot consider an exposure history that they do not know about.

Tell your doctor if you worked in a trade or industry where asbestos may have been present, lived with someone who worked around asbestos, lived or worked in a building where asbestos-containing materials were disturbed, participated in disaster response or cleanup, or believe you experienced another occupational or environmental exposure.

Even an exposure that happened decades ago can be relevant today.

Know the Warning Symptoms

According to the National Cancer Institute, symptoms that warrant medical attention in people with known or suspected asbestos exposure can include:

  • Shortness of breath, wheezing, or hoarseness
  • A persistent cough that worsens over time
  • Blood in sputum coughed up from the lungs
  • Pain or tightening in the chest
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Swelling of the neck or face
  • Loss of appetite
  • Unexplained weight loss
  • Fatigue or anemia

Mesothelioma can also present with symptoms including trouble breathing, cough, pain under the rib cage, abdominal pain or swelling, unexplained weight loss, and fatigue.

These symptoms do not necessarily mean that someone has an asbestos-related disease. Many are common to other medical conditions. Symptoms alone cannot diagnose mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease.

That is why both pieces of information are important: your symptoms and your exposure history.

Do Not Ignore Persistent Changes

If symptoms are persistent, worsening, unexplained, or concerning, talk with your physician. Explain any known or possible history of asbestos exposure, even if it occurred many years earlier.

A physician can determine whether additional evaluation, imaging, pulmonary testing, referral to a specialist, or other medical care is appropriate.

Accurate and timely evaluation matters. So does being an informed participant in your own care.

If you or someone you care about receives an asbestos-related diagnosis, know that there are physicians, treatment centers, researchers, support organizations, and patient communities working every day to improve treatment and care.

Next week, in the final installment of our Health Literacy Month series, we will focus on how to evaluate and find specialized medical care and a Center of Excellence for treatment.

As we always say at ADAO:

“Hear Asbestos. Think Prevention.”™

Linda Reinstein
President and Co-Founder
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization