High on Health: New Study Links Certain Infections to Cancer

Cancer is a devastating disease that accounted for nearly 10 million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It isn’t selective, and it affects people of all ages and walks of life. While there are some lifestyle habits that have been known to cause cancer, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, excessive sun exposure, poor diet, and lack of exercise, a new study now links certain infections to the disease as well.

The Study

The study, “Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2024: a worldwide incidence analysis,” was published on Sept. 28 in The Lancet Oncology. It was conducted by Harriet Rumgay and colleagues at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. They found that around 2.3 million new cancer cases in 2024, which represent 12% of cases in the world, were attributed to infections.

"We know that there are certain infections that we are exposed to over our lifetime that may result in an increased risk of certain cancers," Dr. Joshua Cohen, medical director of the Gynecologic Cancer Program of City of Hope Orange County in Irvine, California, told Fox News Digital.

Researchers identified 12 different infectious agents, including Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that infects the stomach and can cause ulcers and stomach cancer; human papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus associated with cervical cancer and several other cancers, including those affecting the throat, anus, and genitals; hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), which can cause long-term liver infections that increase the risk of liver cancer. Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), which is extremely common and can cause mononucleosis, is also associated with certain lymphomas and other cancers, including some stomach cancers. Then there are Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, Schistosoma haematobium, HTLV-1, Opisthorchis viverrini, Clonorchis sinensis, Merkel cell polyomavirus, and HIV.

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"Eighty percent of the population has been exposed to certain types of HPV strains," Cohen said. "About 40,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with these cancers each year."

"The findings underscore the major role that infection control can play in reducing the global cancer burden," said Dr. Rumgay.

The good news is that many of the infections linked to cancer are potentially avoidable by treatment or vaccination. However, Rumgay explained: "Despite progress in vaccination and screening, infection-related cancers remain a major global challenge, with the burden falling disproportionately on populations in low- and middle-income countries."

Researchers also found that the type of cancer people have varies between countries. Cervical cancer is the most common type among women in 26 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South and Central America, Melanesia, and South-East Asia. Eastern Asia had the largest number of infection-related cancer cases, with approximately 990,000 diagnoses, which represents about 43% of the worldwide total.

Cancer Stats

This disease can affect any part of the body, including the bones and blood. In 2024, the most common causes of cancer death were lung (1.86 million deaths), colon and rectum (918,000 deaths), liver (732,000 deaths), breast (694,000 deaths), and stomach (642,000 deaths).

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But treatment and survival rates have come a long way over the past few decades. In January, the American Cancer Society said in a press release that “the five-year relative survival rate for all cancers combined reached 70% for people diagnosed during 2015-2021 in the United States.” Furthermore, “Survival gains since the mid-1990s are especially notable for people diagnosed with more fatal cancers, such as myeloma (from 32% to 62%), liver cancer (7% to 22%), and lung cancer (15% to 28%).”

“Seven in 10 people now survive their cancer five years or more, up from only half in the mid-70s,” said Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the report, in the press release.

If you just look at the numbers of new cancer diagnoses, it appears that the disease is growing, but there are several factors to take into consideration. For one, the population is, and has been, increasing every decade. For another, people are living longer. As humans age, the risk of developing cancer grows as well.

The American Cancer Society wrote:

“In 2026 in the U.S., approximately 2,114,850 new cancer diagnoses (5,800 each day) are projected to occur, and 626,140 people will die from the disease. Although the cancer mortality rate has continued to decline through 2023, dropping by a total of 34% since its peak in 1991 and averting 4.8 million cancer deaths, incidence continues to increase for many common cancers, including breast, prostate, liver (female), melanoma (female), oral cavity, pancreas, and uterine corpus (endometrial).”

The study links certain infections with causing cancer, but that doesn’t mean having those infections guarantees it. “The vast majority of patients who have an HPV infection or H. Pylori, or even hepatitis B or C, are not going to develop cancer,” Cohen said. The research does, however, provide some hope of preventing some types of cancer through treatment and vaccinations.