Mesothelioma Diagnosis’ in Libby, Montana Expected to Rise
According to a recent report in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, an epidemic of mesothelioma will hit Libby, Montana in the next 10-20 years. Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a pulmonologist focusing on asbestos disease treatment in Libby, wrote the report with input from four other doctors, including Dr. Brad Black of the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD Clinic) in Libby.
Whitehouse, who joined the Card Clinic in 2004 to focus exclusively on asbestos victims, said, “The extent of the epidemic of environmental mesothelioma due to exposures based at Libby will probably not peak for another 10 to 20 years. This is a public health problem of considerable magnitude and points to the need for surveillance and early detection of the disease.”
Thus far, a total of 31 cases of malignant mesothelioma have been diagnosed in Libby residents. A significant number of these patients had no direct contact with the mine or mine workers, but merely were members of the community. In one case, a woman had no direct contact with the mine or mine workers, but her work was located 5 miles from the vermiculite mine. She reported that her car was covered in dust everyday. This exposure to asbestos dust eventually led to her mesothelioma diagnosis and subsequent death.
Between the 1940s-1970s, the vermiculite mine in Libby was operating at its highest capacity. Due to the long latency period between exposure to asbestos and a mesothelioma diagnosis, Libby residents are just now starting to be diagnosed with the disease and the numbers are expected to increase. According to Whitehouse, “The number of mesothelioma cases stemming from exposure in Libby likely has been underestimated because it’s been difficult to track the large number of workers who built the Libby dam project from 1966 to 1974. Large numbers of employees at the lumber mill in Libby also frequently were transitory workers.”
Libby is considered to have the highest mesothelioma rate in the United States. More than 200 asbestos deaths have been confirmed in Libby, and the CARD clinic is following about 2,000 additional asbestos cases. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” Whitehouse added. “God knows how many have been exposed. It could be a horrendous epidemic.”
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