'One in six cancers worldwide are caused by infection' One in
six cancers - two million a year globally - are caused by
largely treatable or preventable infections, new estimates
suggest. The Lancet Infectious Diseases review, which looked at
incidence rates for 27 cancers in 184 countries, found four main
infections are responsible. These four - human papillomaviruses,
Helicobacter pylori and hepatitis B and C viruses - account for
1.9m cases of cervical, gut and liver cancers. Most cases are in
the developing world. The team from the International Agency for
Research on Cancer says more efforts are needed to tackle these
avoidable cases and recognise cancer as a communicable disease.
The proportion of cancers related to infection is about three
times higher in parts of the developing world, such as east
Asia, than in developed countries like the - 22.9% versus 7.4%,
respectively. ...