Table 1.
Case reports and series of mesothelioma in domestically exposed populations.
| Author and Year | Population Studied | Occupation of Worker(s) | Results | Exposure Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wagner et al. 1960 [1] | 33 Pleural mesothelioma cases in Northwest Cape Province (South Africa) | Crocidolite miners | 25/33 cases had non-occupational exposure (76%). | Nearly exclusively neighborhood exposure |
| Lieben & Pistawka 1967 [14] | 42 Pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases in southeast Pennsylvania | Insulation plant workers | 3/42 (7%) cases had domestic exposure: 2 were daughters of insulation plant workers; 1 mother of two insulation plant workers |
Amosite and chrysotile |
| Rusby 1968 [15] | Pleural mesothelioma in mother of factory workers | Asbestos factory workers | Mother of 3 daughters who worked in an asbestos factory | Laundered clothing for 1–2 years, 26 years prior; no other asbestos contact |
| Heller et al. 1970 [16] | 10 Pleural mesothelioma cases at Massachusetts General Hospital 1960–1967 | Pipefitter | 1 woman (10%) washed her pipefitter husband’s dusty work clothes; husband had asbestosis | Clothes washing |
| Bittersohl and Ose 1971 [17] (as cited in NIOSH 1995 [7]) | Wife of a chemical plant worker | Chemical plant worker | 1 woman with pleural mesothelioma whose husband was exposed to asbestos insulation at a chemical plant | Clothes washing |
| Champion 1971 [18] | Son of lagger | Lagger | Patient was never occupationally exposed to asbestos; father was a lagger who wore work overalls home; emphysematous changes seen in mother; sister had pleural plaques. | --- |
| Knappmann 1972 [19] (as cited in NIOSH 1995 [7]) | Brother of asbestos worker | Asbestos factory worker | Case report of mesothelioma in a man who lived for several years with his sister who was an asbestos worker | --- |
| Greenberg & Davies 1974 [20] | 246 Pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases in England, Wales, Scotland (1967–1968) | Asbestos factory workers | 2/246 (0.8%) with potential domestic exposures: 1 case had husband who worked in asbestos factory; 1 case lived near asbestos factory; parents worked at factory |
Cases had 2 and 14 years of exposure, respectively |
| Lillington et al. 1974 [21] | Mesothelioma in husband and wife | Industrial exposure to asbestos | Husband had “industrial exposure”, wife washed his clothes; both were diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma | Clothes washing |
| Milne 1976 [22] | 32 Pleural mesothelioma cases in Victoria, Australia | Asbestos cement factory | 1/32 cases (3%) had domestic exposure; father worked in asbestos cement plant. | --- |
| Edge & Chaudhury 1978 [23] | 50 Mesothelioma cases from Barrow in Furness (British shipbuilding town; 1966–1976) | Shipyard plumber | 1/50 (2%) was married to a shipyard plumber. | Crocidolite |
| Li et al. 1978 [24] | Family in which father was pipe insulator in a shipyard. | Shipyard insulator | Father had asbestosis and lung cancer; wife washed his clothes and had mesothelioma; daughter had mesothelioma. |
Clothes washing |
| Epler et al. 1980 [25] | 2 wives of asbestos workers | Asbestos factory workers | Mesothelioma in 2 wives of asbestos workers: 1 husband worked in an asbestos product factory for 23 years; 1 husband worked in an asbestos product factory and had asbestosis and mesothelioma. |
--- |
| Vianna et al. 1981 [26] | 288 pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases in NY state (1973–1978) | Farmers, fireman | 7/288 (2.4%) cases with potential indirect exposure (1 male, 6 females); 5 females lived with a farmer; 1 lived with a fireman. |
--- |
| Martensson et al. 1984 [27] | Two children of an asbestos worker | Foundry worker | Female with no occupational exposure; Father worked at foundry with insulation and hung his clothes where children played; Male, brother of female, grew up in same house and worked as a storekeeper for company supplying shipyard electrical equipment. |
Exposure referred to as “slight household asbestos exposure during childhood”. |
| Krousel et al. 1986 [28] | Mother, daughter, and son with pleural mesothelioma | Factory workers | Mother worked as clothing sales person and candle-maker. First husband and second husband worked at lumber/shingle company. Family lived within a mile of lumber/shingle company that used asbestos wrap on pipes. Daughter worked as phone operator, husband was electrician. Son worked in submarine, shipyard, cement pipe maker, power company, and carpenter. | No microscopic evidence of asbestos fibers in son and daughter |
| Li et al. 1989 [29] | Family of asbestos worker | Insulator | Wife of insulator washed worker's laundry, used cloth sacks that were used to transport insulation as child's diapers. Child died of mesothelioma at age 32; mother died at age 49. Uncle who lived with family as teen and was briefly an insulator, developed mesothelioma at age 43. Father died of asbestosis at age 53. | Clothes washing and insulation cloth sacks as diapers. |
| Kane et al. 1990 [30] | 10 Cases of mesothelioma in patients 40 years old and under | Asbestos factory worker, shipyard insulator |
Of 10 cases, 5 had household exposure (50%):
Case 1: Father delivered asbestos products; Case 2: Father worked at glass factory that made asbestos products; Case 3: Father worked as shipyard pipe insulator; lived 6 km from shipyard; mother had mesothelioma; father had adenocarcinoma; Case 5: Brother-in-law worked in asbestos plant; lived 2 km from asbestos factory; Case 6: Exposed to father's dusty work clothing for one year; older sister developed lung cancer with same exposure. |
1–18 years of exposure |
| Konetzke et al. 1990 (German) [31] | 48 Cases of mesothelioma from the National Cancer Register in East Germany and 19 cases of pleural plaques were investigated for non-occupational exposure to asbestos | --- | 22/48 (46%) cases caused by cleaning by members of the family of working clothes contaminated with asbestos. | Clothes washing |
| Oern et al. 1991 [32] (Norwegian; as cited in NIOSH 1995 [7]) | Sister and husband of asbestos workers | Insulators | Family had 2 brothers, a sister and her husband. All males were insulators; 1 brother had asbestosis, other brother and sister had mesothelioma; woman who cleaned work clothes developed mesothelioma at age 79. | Clothes washing |
| Chellini et al. 1992 [33] | 100 Cases of pleural mesothelioma in Tuscany, Italy (1970–1988) | Construction, plumber in chemical manufacturing | 4/100 (4%) cases identified with “possible domestic” exposure—women whose husbands or members of the family were occupationally exposed (3 in construction and one as a plumber in chemical manufacturing) and who used to wash their spouses’ work clothes; same data also reported by Seniori-Constantini & Chellini 1997 [34]. | Clothes washing |
| Dodoli et al. 1992 [35] | 262 Cases of pleural mesothelioma in Leghorn and La Spezia, Italy (1958–1988) | Shipyard workers, oil refinery worker | 10 (3.8%) women washed their relatives’ work clothes (9 shipyard workers, 1 oil refinery worker). | Clothes washing |
| Giarelli et al. 1992 [36] | 170 Cases of mesothelioma in Trieste, Italy (1968–1987) | Shipyard workers | 5/170 (2.9%) cases had domestic exposure and cleaned the clothes of their husbands who were shipyard workers. | 80% had no AB a; 20% had few AB; Clothes washing. |
| Schneider et al. 1996 [37] | 5 Pleural mesothelioma cases | Insulation mat manufacturing, turbine revision, roofer, asbestos cardboard manufacturing, and insulator. | “Causal relation established between the mesothelioma and inhalation of asbestos fibers while cleaning contaminated work-clothes and shoes”. | 7–23 years of exposure; cleaning clothes and shoes |
| Seniori-Constantini & Chellini 1997 [34] | 335 Pleural mesothelioma cases from registry in Tuscany, Italy (1970–1996) | NR b | 30%–35% of 59 female cases were housewives; Same data source as Chellini et al. 1992 [33]. | NR |
| Rees et al. 1999 [38] | 123 Cases in South Africa | Mining workers | 13/123 cases (11%) noted contaminated clothing as source of exposure, along with working with asbestos or living in mining district. “No subject exclusively exposed to contaminated work clothes brought home”. Three cases were reported to have only exposure to asbestos from contaminated clothing. | Mostly crocidolite and amosite; Contaminated clothing |
| Ascoli et al. 2000 (Italian) [39] | One female mesothelioma case | NR | Domestic exposure, duration of 20 years in an industrial town with a large chemical plant | NR |
| Barbieri et al. 2001 (Italian) [40] | 190 Cases of mesothelioma in Brescia, Italy diagnosed 1980–1999 | Asbestos hauler | 1/190 (0.5%) had domestic exposure; wife of asbestos hauler who washed his clothes | Clothes washing |
| Bianchi et al. 2001 [41] | 557 Malignant mesotheliomas of the pleura diagnosed 1968–2000 in the Trieste-Monfalcone area, Italy | Mainly shipbuilding town | 21/65 (32%) females and 0/492 males had histories of domestic exposure, cleaning clothes of an asbestos exposed worker; includes Giarelli et al. 1992 [36] cases. | 35% of domestic cases analyzed (n = 20) had AB; Clothes washing. |
| Mangone et al. 2002 (Italian) [42] | 323 Pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases in Emilia-Romagna, Italy (1996–2001) | NR | 13/325 (4%) were domestically exposed | NR |
| Miller 2005 [43] | 32 Pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases gathered from law firms (since 1990) | Shipyard workers, insulators, others. | 15 wives, 11 daughters, 3 sons, 1 sister-in-law, 1 niece, 1 boarder; Occupations of workers included: 13 shipyard workers, 7 insulators, 12 others |
NR |
| Bianchi et al. 2007 [44] | 99 Cases in Trieste, Italy (2001–2006) | NR | 5 cases (5%) identified as “home exposure”, where patients had washed asbestos-exposed husbands’ work clothes | Clothes washing |
a AB = Asbestos bodies;
b NR = Not reported.