4 ms·

Yeah, but cancer is not infectious. People will always develop cancer, but we could potentially get to a point where nobody has HIV anymore, if we can prevent t

by netrus 14y ago

Yeah, but cancer is not infectious. People will always develop cancer, but we could potentially get to a point where nobody has HIV anymore, if we can prevent the virus from spreading.

geuis 14y ago
Not disagreeing with you since as far as I know, there are no human cancers that are contagious. There are at least 2 mammalian cancers I know of, and possibly more, that are contagious. One is a disease wiping out Tasmanian devils. Another is a sexually transmitted cancer among dogs. Its thousands of years old and shows up as small tumors around the genital regions of affected animals. There was a TED talk describing this in some detail. Don't have the time to search for a link at the moment, but you can probably find it.
- jeza 14y ago
  Well there's human papilloma virus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus) which can result in the development of cervical cancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_cancer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_cancer).
  - tsotha 14y ago
    There are probably all sorts of viruses that can cause cancer. But that's not the same thing as actual infectious cancer cells.
- waterhouse 14y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_t... Heh--according to the article, there are 3 transmissible cancers, and you named 2 of them. ... Wow, I find this kind of astonishing. The tumor cells are themselves the infectious agents, and the tumors that form are not genetically related to the host dog. Although the genome of CTVT is derived from a canid (probably a dog, wolf or coyote), it is now essentially living as a unicellular, asexually reproducing (but sexually transmitted) pathogen. Sequence analysis of the genome suggests it diverged from canids over 6,000 years ago; possibly much earlier. However, the most recent common ancestor of extant tumors is more recent: it probably originated 200 to 2,500 years ago. Very interesting. Thank you for mentioning it.
jekdoce 14y ago
Leukemia can be caused by a virus (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142595.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142595.php) The virus is transmitted through the same ways as HIV.
- svachalek 14y ago
  I think this and HPV count as contagious carcinogens, rather than contagious cancers.

by netrus 14y ago

Yeah, but cancer is not infectious. People will always develop cancer, but we could potentially get to a point where nobody has HIV anymore, if we can prevent the virus from spreading.

geuis 14y ago

Not disagreeing with you since as far as I know, there are no human cancers that are contagious. There are at least 2 mammalian cancers I know of, and possibly more, that are contagious. One is a disease wiping out Tasmanian devils. Another is a sexually transmitted cancer among dogs. Its thousands of years old and shows up as small tumors around the genital regions of affected animals. There was a TED talk describing this in some detail. Don't have the time to search for a link at the moment, but you can probably find it.

jeza 14y ago
Well there's human papilloma virus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus) which can result in the development of cervical cancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_cancer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_cancer).
- tsotha 14y ago
  There are probably all sorts of viruses that can cause cancer. But that's not the same thing as actual infectious cancer cells.
waterhouse 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_t... Heh--according to the article, there are 3 transmissible cancers, and you named 2 of them. ... Wow, I find this kind of astonishing. The tumor cells are themselves the infectious agents, and the tumors that form are not genetically related to the host dog. Although the genome of CTVT is derived from a canid (probably a dog, wolf or coyote), it is now essentially living as a unicellular, asexually reproducing (but sexually transmitted) pathogen. Sequence analysis of the genome suggests it diverged from canids over 6,000 years ago; possibly much earlier. However, the most recent common ancestor of extant tumors is more recent: it probably originated 200 to 2,500 years ago. Very interesting. Thank you for mentioning it.

jekdoce 14y ago

Leukemia can be caused by a virus (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142595.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142595.php) The virus is transmitted through the same ways as HIV.

svachalek 14y ago
I think this and HPV count as contagious carcinogens, rather than contagious cancers.