‘Fifth of human cancers has origin in infections'

It may be a little known fact, but a staggering fifth of all human cancers have their origins in infections — viral, bacterial or parasitical, Nobel laureate and professor at German Cancer Research Centre (Heidelberg), Harald zur Hausen, has said. The leading virologist, who won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the link between cervical cancer and the human papillomavirus (HPV), said that pathogens such as hepatitis B (virus), Helicobacter pylori(bacteria) and Schistosoma (parasite) were also known to cause certain cancers.