BUFFALO, N.Y. — A headline from the New York Times on Thursday morning read "These Four Common Infections Can Cause Cancer." The paper also said that according to a new report, an estimated 13 percent of all cancer cases globally are linked to bacteria or viruses.
2 On Your Side wanted to get a deeper look at this headline, so we went to a doctor at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center to explain what it all means.
"This information isn't really new. These infections have been known for quite a while to cause cancer, and there's a common theme. So the common theme is they're long-lived and they can either cause cancer by inflammation or scarring," Dr. Brahm Segal, Chair of Internal Medicine, told 2 On Your Side.
Dr. Brahm Segal said examples of infections that can cause cancer are HPV, and Hepatitis B and C.
"And there are other viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus that could be associated with long-lived infection that can sometimes lead to cancer also," said Dr. Brahm Segal.
The good news is, he says something like the common cold or a respiratory viral infection is not going to cause cancer, and for HPV and Hepatitis B, there are vaccines.
"I've been vaccinated, my kids have been vaccinated, my wife, I mean, everyone I know should be vaccinated. Health care people are required to be vaccinated. You get vaccinated as a baby. And these are things that have a huge, huge affect in terms of not only limiting, not only reducing the incidence of Hepatitis B-related liver conditions like cirrhosis at its worst, but also Hepatitis B associated liver cancer," Dr. Segal said.
"We're really talking about long-lived viruses, or in the case of H. pylori, a long-lived intracellular bacterial infection, so nothing has changed as cold-type viruses, you get them, those would not be associated with cancer."