THE WILD HUNGERS
Everybody around the world knows that cancer is a dreadful disease which has high mortality rate. But ever wondered what cancer really is in molecular level?
Well, Cancer is a condition where the cells in the body begin to grow and reproduce in an uncontrollable manner which confers various threat to the host. Whereas, the normal cells inside our body multiplies, do their duties and then dies by a process called apoptosis. When the cancer cells keeps dividing uncontrollably in a rapid rate, they occupy the entire space (tissues) hence, there is no room for normal cells to grow. Some of these cells then invade and destroy healthy tissues, including organs and this condition is called metastasis. Although, not all the cancers ends in metastasis.
Demon causing deaths:
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular disorder. Over 277 different types of cancers had been reported so far. Cancers are mostly caused by the genetic mutation (changes in the DNA) due to external factors which in turn activates or inactivates specific genes which alters the regulation of mechanism in the human body. Mutations are not bad always, good mutations are also there like increased bone density, resistance to certain diseases, super vision and so on.
Carcinogen and it’s types:
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis, the formation of cancer. They cause damage after repeated or long-duration exposure. They may not exhibit immediate apparent harmful effects, will develop only after a long latency period.
Carcinogens are of three types:
- Chemical (benzene, chloroform, ethylene oxide, hydrazine, aniline, etc.)
- Physical (UV-rays (sunlight), X-rays, Gamma rays & alpha and beta particles, asbestos, metallic nickel, arsenic, etc.)
- Biological (HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), Hepatitis C virus, Epstein — Barr virus, Helicobacter pylori).
Impacts and treatments:
The tumor can be treated effectively when diagnosed at the early stage. The common and standard procedures to treat any cancer conditions are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The type of treatment depends on various factors but majorly on the size and type of the cancer. Surgery is the case where the affected area is removed. Radiation is the treatment employing high energy X-rays to reduce or shrink the spread of cancer cells. It is applied along with surgery or chemotherapy for effective treatment. Surgery and radiotherapy was used worldwide to treat till 1960s when it was realized that it is not as effective as expected due to metastasis. Then in 20th century chemotherapy proved to cure Hodgkin’s disease and acute leukemia hence, it came into use.
GLOBACON & WHO STATISTICS:
Both GLOBOCAN & WHO, predicted that incidence and mortality can be increased to over 15.1 million and 12 million by the year 2020. However, the GLOBOCAN report of 2020 reported 19.3 million cases and 10 million cancer deaths in 2020. When comparing with the prediction and the incidence rates, clearly the burden over cancer is drastically increasing even though the death rate is less compared to the prediction, having cancer without mortality is still a death threat and it doesn’t make it better. The report also states that highest number of mortality due to cancer is prevalent in the Asian region (57.3% & [India (7.8%]) than other continents.
In a nutshell:
The incidence rates of cancer is increasing drastically over the years which is a great burden to the people’s health. Our environment is surrounded with various types of carcinogens, we all must take a personal responsibility of our health on behalf of us, our friends and family as well to prevent the incidence of cancer. Even today chemotherapeutic drugs are used to treat cancer, although it’s effective it also has a major disadvantage of causing various side effects to the host like drug resistance and also targeting the normal cells and tissues. Several researches has been going on for decades to overcome this issue and let us all hope that to be achieved soon.
