Parasitical infection can increase prostate cancer risk
POSTED September 11, 2009 - 16:46 | POSTED BY Jaspreet Kaur
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on September 11, 2009 - 17:39
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in men.
For the latest study purposes, Jennifer Stark from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and her colleagues took into account blood samples collected from 673 men suffering from prostate cancer.
All these men were already a part of the Physicians’ Health Study, a huge, ongoing study that is analyzing numerous health issues. These volunteers were compared to 673 men who did not develop prostate cancer.
The researchers found that men who had the trichomoniasis infection were twice more susceptible to developing prostate cancer if the infection is diagnosed 10 years later. Also, they had a three times higher probability of the disease reaching an untreatable stage.
Elaborating on how the infection can increase prostate cancer risk, the researchers said that it can lead to inflammation in the prostate gland.
However, the researchers did add that more elaborate studies need to be done before the study results can be thoroughly established.
But if the study results are found to be accurate, this would present one way to trim down the number of deaths from prostate cancer as the infection caused by trichomonas vaginalis is easily curable with the help of an inexpensive antibiotic treatment.
New findings add to previous researches
The new study findings are second in a row this week wherein researchers have revealed a plausible link between an infection and prostate cancer. Another study’s findings this week had shown that a virus known as XMRV is associated with the deadly prostate cancer.
Peter Albertsen of the University of Connecticut said that the extensive use of Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) testing for detecting prostate cancer has made it more complicated to identify possible causes of prostate cancer.
Trichomonas parasite
Trichomoniasis is caused by a parasite called trichomonas vaginalis. It infects almost 174 million people across the globe every year and is the most widespread non-viral sexually transmitted infection.
The worst part is that three quarters of men who have the infection are not even aware of it.
The latest study results have been published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
