According to a landmark study published recently in The Lancet Oncology, 2 million (16.1%) of the worldwide 12.7 million new cancer cases in 2008 were attributable to infections. This percentage was higher in less developed countries (22.9%) compared with more developed countries (7.4%). The numbers also varied 10-fold by region, from 3.3% in Australia and New Zealand to 32.7% in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Many infection-related cancers are preventable, particularly those associated with Helicobacter pylori, hepatitis B and C viruses and human papillomaviruses,” the authors say. “Together, these 4 main infections are estimated to be responsible for 1.9 million cases, mainly gastric, liver, and cervical cancers,” they add.
In women, cervical cancer accounted for about half of the infection-related burden of cancer. In men, liver and gastric cancers accounted for more than 80%.
“But the application of existing public-health methods for infection prevention, such as vaccination, safer injection practice, or antimicrobial treatments, could have a substantial effect on future burden of cancer worldwide,” said the lead authors of the study, Dr Catherine de Martel and Dr Martyn Plummer from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), France.
The authors concluded, “The 2011 UN high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases highlighted the growing global agenda for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. Although cancer is considered a major non-communicable disease, a sizable proportion of its causation is infectious and simple non-communicable disease paradigms will not be sufficient.”
Source: IARC.