Infections

One in six cancers , a total of two million a year worldwide , is caused by infections that are treatable or preventable , according to a study published in the British medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

A team of researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Lyon, France) examined the incidence of 27 cancers in 184 countries and found that there are four main infections that led to the development of these tumors. According to the results of their study, of the 7.5 million cancer deaths that occurred in 2008, around 1.5 million was caused by preventable or treatable infections. The hepatitis B and C, human papillomavirus, and the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which infects the stomach lining and causes úlceras- were responsible for 1.9 million cases of cervical cancer, intestine and liver. The researcher Martyn Plummer, who led the study, stressed the importance it will have in the future to prevent these viruses to avoid cancer. "Infections caused by certain viruses, bacteria and parasites are among the leading causes of preventable cancer in the world," said Plummer. Here, Plummer recalled existing vaccines for hepatitis B virus and human papilloma and the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, associated with tumors in the intestine, it can be eliminated with antibiotics. The researcher also defended the need to disseminate the concept of cancer as a communicable disease. Most cancers related to infection were recorded in developing countries, such as Southeast Asia, where 22.9% of cases were recorded compared with 7.4% in the UK. Nearly a third of the patients were under 50 years. Among women, the cervix accounted for half of all cancers linked to infection, while among men, cancers caused by infection mainly affected the liver, stomach and colon.