WHO Study Estimates 12 Percent of 2024 Cancer Cases Linked to Infections
The estimate puts a sizable share of the global cancer burden on pathogens that public health programs can target directly, which is why the regional gap matters more than the global average.
Reporting from 1 source: GIGAZINE.
A WHO study published in The Lancet Oncology estimates that about 12 percent of cancer cases worldwide in 2024 were attributable to infections, roughly 2.3 million cases. Five pathogens account for most of the burden: Helicobacter pylori at approximately 760,000 cases, HPV at 750,000, hepatitis B at 360,000, Epstein-Barr virus at 260,000, and hepatitis C at 160,000. East Asia carries the largest regional share.
The research team drew on Cancer Today, the statistics arm of the International Agency for Research on Cancer's Global Cancer Observatory, to estimate cases tied to 12 infectious pathogens for 2024.
The geographic spread is uneven. East Asia accounts for about 990,000 infection-attributable cases, 42 percent of the world total, and its age-standardized incidence rate of 31.9 per 100,000 sits above the global average of 22.7. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia also exceed the world average. The paper ties those gaps to how common the pathogens are locally and how widely prevention measures have spread.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.