Whereas indeed it is true a lot has changed so that now cancer is more prevalent, it could also be equally true that more cases that would otherwise have been classified as death due to unknown causes are now being diagnosed and identified as cancer due to advancement in detection and diagnostic techniques.

On foul play, may be. There are claims for instance that Kaposi's sarcoma was a disease primarily affecting people of Jewish extraction but somewhere along the way, something is suspected to have changed so that now it is seen more in black people. Locally we see it mostly in patients with either undiagnosed or poorly managed advanced HIV/AIDS or in those with treatment failure.

Some cancers are also known to be associated with viruses (or other organisms) e.g Epstein-Barr Virus is associated with Hodgkin's and Burkitt's lymphomas as well as nasopharyngeal cancers, while Hepatitis B & C viruses are associated with liver cancer and Human Papilloma Virus is associated with cervical cancer. It therefore follows that control of such viruses/bacteria would go a long way towards reducing incidence of such cancers. For instance, it is widely known that HPV is spread sexually and thus safe sex, besides protecting against the usual STIs & pregnancy, is also beneficial in so far as cervical cancer is concerned. Thus, when we tell young girls to abstain from sex and delay their first sexual encounter for as long as possible, this is one of the less obvious reasons as to why. In recent times, due to prevalence of oral sex, this same HPV is now being implicated in cases of throat cancer. As a result there now is a drive to vaccinate prepubescent boys (as opposed to gals only) with the antiHPV vaccine (I believe one of the brands is Cervarix, made by GSK) in an attempt to protect them against throat cancer in much the same way it protects girls & women against cervical cancer.

According to research done in Australia & New Zealand (I forget the details, it's been a while), there is indisputable link between stomach cancer and Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria responsible for much of gastric ulcers. This bacteria is treatable with common, cheap antibiotics (after proper diagnosis of course). For this reason, stomach cancer has often been referred to as perhaps the only type of cancer wholly curable/preventable using normal, widely available antibiotics.

Of course, the association between toxins such as cigarette smoke & asbestos (for thise with cars, what material makes your break pads? And break linings? Spare a thought for your favorite mechanic, and please educate him/her) with lung cancer so I need not belabor the point. Of course, in recent times we're seeing a lot of oral & throat cancers in long term chewers of miraa though the culprit compound has not yet been identified, as well as hepatic cancer in chronic alcoholism (George Best, anyone?).

For those who come especially from coffee growing areas, you may probably have noticed a significant rise in especially stomach as well as other cancers especially amongst the older generation in their late 60s and above. Ever asked yourself why? My personal view is it probably has something to do with water contamination by the numerous toxic chemicals that were/are used in coffee farming, from herbicides to pesticides, etc. thus us perhaps made more plausible when you consider that most of these areas did not have piped drinking water till well into the 1990s and had to rely on the same contaminated streams and rivers for their drinking water. Just my thoughts though. I wish we had a local equivalent of CDC to study some of these things.

As fate would have it, NHK World is screening the first of a three part documentary about cancer. Gotta watch it. Good night pals.

Pole boss

Pole

may he rest in peace.

Pole sana.