EURO NEWS – A common bacteria found in the stomach could cause nearly 12 million cancers among people born over a single decade, a new study suggests.
Over the course of their lives, 15.6 million people born between 2008 and 2017 are expected to develop stomach cancer – and 76 per cent may be caused by the Helicobacter pylori bacteria, according to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Stomach cancer is largely preventable, but the prognosis is poor once a patient is diagnosed. It is the fifth most common form of cancer worldwide, killing an estimated 770,000 people per year.
Chronic infection with H. pylori is a major cause, and it helps explain the rise in stomach cancers among young people in recent years, the study found.
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Most people are infected with H. pylori as children, and they may be infected for years without knowing it because the infection doesn’t cause symptoms. But it can also cause ulcers or inflammation in the stomach lining.
The bacteria can spread by mouth, for example kissing, or through contact with vomit or stool.
Where stomach cancer cases will rise
Researchers from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research agency analysed stomach cancer data from 185 countries in 2022 …
