Infectious causes of cancer

Infectious causes of cancer covers the cancers that arise from infection by viruses, bacteria or parasites. The source estimates that the worldwide risk of cancers from infectious causes is 16.1 percent, ranging from a high of 32.7 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa to 3.3 percent in Australia and New Zealand. Viral infections are risk factors for cervical cancer, for 80 percent of liver cancers and for 15 to 20 percent of other cancers. A virus that can cause cancer is called an oncovirus or tumor virus, and examples include human papillomavirus, Epstein-Barr virus, Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus, hepatitis B and C viruses and human T-cell leukemia virus 1. Helicobacter pylori is linked to stomach cancer, and Schistosoma haematobium and the liver flukes Opisthorchis viverrini and Clonorchis sinensis to bladder and bile duct cancers. This entry is a record of the evidence, not medical advice.