Infection and Cancer: Global Distribution and Burden of Diseases

• Published in: Annals of global health Vol. 80; no. 5; pp. 384 - 392
• Main Authors: Oh, Jin-Kyoung, Weiderpass, Elisabete
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.09.2014; Ubiquity Press
• Subjects: burden; cancer; Clonorchiasis - epidemiology; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections - epidemiology; Helicobacter Infections - epidemiology; Hepatitis B - epidemiology; Hepatitis C - epidemiology; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HTLV-I Infections - epidemiology; Humans; infection; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - microbiology; Neoplasms - parasitology; Opisthorchiasis - epidemiology; Papillomavirus Infections - epidemiology; Schistosomiasis haematobia; Trematode Infections - epidemiology; Trematode Infections - parasitology; vaccination; Virus Diseases - epidemiology; Virus Diseases - virology; infection; cancer; burden; vaccination
• ISSN: 2214-9996; 2214-9996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aogh.2014.09.013

Infection is one of the main risk factors for cancer. Epidemiology, pathogenesis, and disease burden of infection-related cancers were reviewed by infectious agents. Chronic infection with Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, Kaposi sarcoma herpes virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1, human papillomavirus (HPV), human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1, Helicobacter pylori, Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis viverrini, and Schistosoma haematobium are associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma; lymphoma and leukemia, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, and Burkitt lymphoma; hepatocellular carcinoma; Kaposi sarcoma; oropharyngeal carcinoma; cervical carcinoma and carcinoma of other anogential sites; adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma; gastric carcinoma; cholangiocarcinoma; and urinary bladder cancer. In 2008, approximately 2 million new cancer cases (16%) worldwide were attributable to infection. If these infections could be prevented and/or treated, it is estimated that there would be about 23% fewer cancers in less developed regions of the world, and about 7% fewer cancers in more developed regions. Widespread application of existing public health methods for the prevention of infection, such as vaccination, safer injection practices, quality-assured screening of all donated blood and blood components, antimicrobial treatments, and safer sex practices, including minimizing one’s lifetime number of sexual partners and condom use, could have a substantial effect on the future burden of cancer worldwide.