{"id":866847,"date":"2026-10-01T08:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/866847\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T08:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:22:14","slug":"more-than-2-million-new-cancer-cases-caused-by-infections-in-2024-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/866847\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 2 million new cancer cases caused by infections in 2024, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many people fear cancer and want to know what they can do to prevent it. In some cases, genetics, random mutations, or environmental factors are to blame, making it difficult to avoid a diagnosis. A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanonc\/article\/PIIS1470-2045(26)00307-4\/fulltext\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paper<\/a> published yesterday in The Lancet Oncology, though, calls attention to a preventable cause of cancer\u2014infections.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn estimated 2.3 million new cancer cases were attributable to infections globally in 2024, which is equivalent to 12% of all cancer cases,\u201d wrote the authors, led by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France. \u201cOur findings highlight the importance of infection control to achieve cancer prevention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>H pylori,\u00a0HPV cause largest share of cancers<\/p>\n<p>Using data from the Global Cancer Observatory\u2019s Cancer Today (GLOBOCAN) database about 2024 cancer incidence, the scientists estimated the number of cancers caused by one of 12 pathogens considered group 1 carcinogens. These include: \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Helicobacter pylori (H pylori)Human papillomavirus (HPV)Hepatitis B virus (HBV)\u00a0Hepatitis C virus (HCV)Epstein\u2013Barr virus (EBV)\u00a0Kaposi&#8217;s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus\u00a0Schistosoma haematobium\u00a0Human T-cell lymphotropic virusOpisthorchis viverrineClonorchis sinensisMerkel cell polyomavirusHIV<\/p>\n<p>These infectious diseases contributed to approximately 2.3 million new cancer diagnoses in 2024. H pylori\u00a0and HPV were responsible for the biggest share of cases, each causing 4%. EBV led to 1% of cancers, while HCV contributed to less than 1%.\u00a0Low- and middle-income countries reported three-quarters of all infectious disease\u2013related cancers. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our findings highlight the importance of infection control to achieve cancer prevention.<\/p>\n<p>Vaccines exist for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/human-papillomavirus-hpv\/people-vaccinated-against-hpv-have-lower-risk-head-and-neck-cancer-study\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HPV<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/hepatitis\/end-universal-birth-dose-hep-b-vaccination-will-drive-infections-deaths-costs-researchers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HBV<\/a> and have been shown to reduce cancer. The authors urge the development of new vaccines for other infectious agents, such as EBV, H pylori, and Kaposi\u2019s sarcoma, to reduce the number of cancers caused by these pathogens. But they note that, in some cases, prevention measures exist already and should be better implemented.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGlobal and local prevention efforts are thus a question of equity and should be considered in the promotion of universal prevention strategies,\u201d they wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many people fear cancer and want to know what they can do to prevent it. In some cases,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-866847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}