Chronic infection by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) would today be the main risk factor known to stomach cancer, reports the media online News Atlas. Often contracted in childhood, this bacteria lives in the mucosa of the stomach and can stay there for years, dormant, without causing symptoms. Except that in the long term, the chronic infection it generates can cause inflammation, ulcers and even evolve in stomach cancer.
This infection can nevertheless be taken into account effectively thanks to a combination of antibiotics and drugs reducing the production of gastric acid (the famous inhibitors of the proton pump). At the same time, stomach cancers have experienced an alarming increase in recent years in those under 50. Researchers have looked into the links between these two observations.
A study by the International Center for Research on Cancer (CIRC) and the Agency specializing in Cancer of the World Health Organization (WHO) attempted to model the future development of stomach cancer, trying to determine how much would be linked to the infection caused by H. pylori in young people born between 2008 and 2017.
To do this, researchers have used large -scale modeling in order to estimate the number of future cases, assuming that current prevention and treatment strategies remain the same. They then estimated the number of cases in connection with the H. pylori bacteria. Their calculations have taken into account many factors such as the frequency of occurrence of cancer at different ages, the probability of dying before developing cancer or demographic trends such as the growth and aging of the population.
A lot of screening to do
According to these simulations, if the therapeutic approaches continue and remain unchanged, it is estimated that 15.6 million new cases of gastric cancer will occur worldwide, during the life of the whole generation born between 2008 and 2017. Among these cases, three quarters, or 76%, would be attributable to infection by H. pylori and could therefore be avoided.
According to their results, Asia is the most affected region with 10.6 million cases, followed by the North and South Americas with 2 million, then Africa with 1.7 million cases. If it were developed, a 100% H. Cylori Bacterian treatment and screening program could avoid up to 75% of cases.
Efficient 80% or 90% programs would prevent between 60% and 68% of stomach cancer cases. The researchers underlined the profitability of these strategies which would even be accessible to low -income environments, and comparable to vaccination campaigns against human papillomavirus (HPV) or hepatitis B.
Researchers also call for investing in the search for a vaccine, recalling that this cancer remains a global threat, especially for the young generation.