Cancers Caused by Viral, Bacterial, and Parasitic Infections

Some cancers are caused by viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections, the following are a few recognized cancers caused by various infections [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].Cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, anal cancer, penile cancer, vaginal cancer, vulvar cancer and human papillomaviruses (HPVs).Liver cancer and hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis D virus (HDV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV).Nasopharyngeal cancer, several lymphomas and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).Kaposi sarcoma and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), also known as Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV).Leukemia and human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-1).Merkel cell carcinoma and Merkel cell polyomavirus.Gastric cancer and bacterium Helicobacter pylori.Bladder cancer and parasite Schistosoma haematobium.Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) and two parasites: Opisthorchis viverrini and Clonorchis sinensis.The first human cancer-causing virus-the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was first discovered by Michael Anthony Epstein , and two of his laboratory assistants Yvonne Barr and Bert Achong in 1964.EBV infection not only can cause nasopharyngeal cancer, but also can cause other cancers like Burkitt's lymphoma, post-transplant and HIV-associated lymphomas, Hodgkin's lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Tcell lymphoma, extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (nasal type), gastric carcinoma.It is estimated that cancers caused by EBV can kill about 137,900-208,700 people worldwide every year [3,4,8].The causal linkage between HPV and cervical cancer was discovered by Harald zur Hausen (1936-2023) [5].HPV can cause cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, anal cancer, penile cancer, vaginal cancer, and vulvar cancer [5,6].HPV types 16 and 18 are two major pathogenic types of HPV, which account for about 72% of cancers caused by HPV infections [1,6].Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis E Virus (HEV) infections are usually acute and self-limited.