It is human nature to speculate on causes of disease or misfortune. When I saw the news the first question that came to my mind was, has it got something to do with growing up in Kibera? The reason for this was that less than 2 years ago a prominent surgeon who had grown up in Kibera died of cancer at the prime of his life:

https://profiles.uonbi.a...di/files/march_2017.pdf

https://www.annalsofafri...nals-of-african-surgery

I wish him well.

but people from all estates in life get cancer... last year cancer was the no. 3 killer after Pneumonia and Malaria!it "beat" HIV/AIDS. Let's face it for what it is... it's a puzzle that we need to unravel - giving it explanations like "Karma" or "God's punishment" or "Mapenzi ya Mungu" neuters our will to unravel it as we already have given it an answer that can neither be validated or invalidated.

The common cold virus could cure cancer, scientists say, as a “revolutionary” treatment was found to eradicate the disease in a week.

In the pioneering British trial, 15 patients were given an infusion of the bug, before undergoing surgery to remove and examine tumours.

In every case, cancer cells had been destroyed - and in one case, all traces of the disease had gone, the study found.

Scientists said they were “very excited” about the findings, for patients with bladder cancer, which could also bring hope to those suffering from other major forms of the disease.

They said the virus could become a “universal agent” to fight cancer, replacing conventional treatments like chemotherapy.

Scientists said they hoped the treatment could be available in as little as three years, bringing hope to thousands of patients with diseases that are currently hard-to-treat.

Most tumours in the bladder do not have immune cells, making the disease particularly hard to treat.

But the study suggests that an infusion of a strain of the common cold virus - called coxsackievirus (CVA21) - was able to inflame the tumour and cause immune cells to rush into the cancer environment, targeting and killing the cancer cells.

Scientists said once the virus targeted the cancer, it replicated itself, making its effects even more powerful.

Prof Hardev Pandha, Principal Investigator of the study and Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Surrey, said: “We are very excited about it. The virus gets into the cancer and replicates, like a little factory of viruses. It heats up the tumour environment, and is very specific in targeting the cancer - it had the least toxicity I have seen for years.”

It comes as other trials examine the role of common cold viruses to treat a range of cancers, including breast, bowel, lung and skin diseases.

Prov Pandha said: “It’s almost like a universal agent - once it gets in it kills the cancer. It could be combined with lots of other treatments.”

He said the use of the virus could help “revolutionise” treatment for the disease.