As I scroll back in time through the archives of Solitarius it’s great time spent. Especially the first six months of 2013 with tons of information included about cancer awareness and in April reading and watching videos of the cancer survivors and success stories. None better than the uniqueness of this blog post which will deal with the infectious causes of cancer.
The infectious causes of cancer account for 18% of cancers worldwide. This proportion varies in different regions of the world from high of 25% in Africa to less than 10% in the developed world. With mold being an usual infectious agent causing cancer, however, bacteria, parasites, and even, viruses having an effect.
More studies are needed to get a clear picture of the health effects that’s related to mycotoxins. However, it is clearly prudent to avoid exposure to mold. Why some molds…. can produce several toxins and some produce mycotoxin only under certain environmental conditions. The presence of mold in a building does not necessarily mean mycotoxins are present or they are present in large quantities.
Mold can produce mycotoxins that cling to the surface of mold spores, while others may be found within spores. More than 200 mycotoxins have been identified from common molds and many remain to be identified. Some of these molds that are known to produce mycotoxins are commonly found in moisture damaged buildings after natural disasters.
Mold spores are microscopic in nature and naturally presence in both indoors and outdoor air. Mold reproduces by means of their spores and some are easily disturbed and waft into the air or settle repeatly with each disturbance. Spores may also remain able to grow for years after they are produced. In addition, whether or not the spores are alive, the allergens in and on them may remain allergenic for years.
Exposure pathways for mycotoxins can include inhalation, ingestion, or through direct skin contact. Many human health effects attributed to inhalation of mycotoxins have been reported, including mucous membrane irritations (sinus cavity), skin rash, immune system suppression, acute or chronic liver or nervous system damage, endocrine effect or cancer
Bacteria infections…. may also increase the risk of cancer, as seen in Helicobacter – pylori – induced gastric carcinoma or the mechanism by which H.pylori causes cancer may involve chronic inflammation or direct action of some of it’s virulence factors, for example, CagA has also been implicated in carcinogenesis. While parasitic infections strongly associated with cancer include Schistosoma haematobium (squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder) and the liver flukes, opisthorclus viverrini and clonorchis sinensis (choloangio carcinoma.)
With another avenue causing cancer…. being virus called oncoviruses, these include human papillomavirus (cervical carcinoma), Epstein – Barr virus (B-Cell Lymphoproliferative disease and nasopharyogeal carcinoma). While Kaposi’s Sarcoma herpes virus can induce Kaposi’s Sarcoma and the primary effusion lymphoma and the Human T-cell leukemia virus -1 (T-cell Leukemia.)
Infections by some hepatitis viruses, especially hepatitis B and C virus that can induce a chronic viral infection. That leads to liver cancer in about 1 in 200 people infected with hepatitis B (more in Asia, fewer in N. America each year) and about 1 in 45 people infected with hepatitis C. Those people with chronic hepatitis B infections are more than 200 times likely to develop liver cancer than uninfected people.