One in eight cancers worldwide starts with an infection. Most can be prevented
What happened
On 28 September 2026, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a new global study in The Lancet Oncology. IARC is the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization. The finding made headlines around the world this week. An estimated 2.3 million new cancer cases in 2024 were caused by infections. That is about 12% of all new cancers worldwide, or roughly one in eight. The study is called 'Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2024: a worldwide incidence analysis'. The lead author is Harriet Rumgay, working with Damien Georges, Catherine de Martel and colleagues. The researchers used IARC's own Global Cancer Observatory database. They looked at germs that are known to cause cancer, and worked out how many cancer cases each one was behind. Five infections accounted for almost all of the total: - Helicobacter pylori, a stomach bacterium, was linked to around 760,000 cases, mostly stomach cancer. - Human papillomavirus (HPV) was linked to around 750,000 cases, mostly cervical cancer. - Hepatitis B virus was linked to around 360,000 cases, mostly liver cancer. - Epstein-Barr virus was linked to around 260,000 cases, including some stomach cancers, nasopharyngeal cancer and lymphomas. - Hepatitis C virus was linked to around 160,000 cases, mostly liver cancer. This analysis was wider than earlier ones. It also included HIV and Merkel cell polyomavirus, and newer evidence linking Epstein-Barr virus to stomach cancer. About 77% of these cancers were in low-income and middle-income countries.
Why this matters
Cancer can feel random. Many people assume it is mostly down to bad luck or family history. This study says something different about a large slice of it. If an infection causes a cancer, then stopping or treating the infection can stop the cancer before it ever starts. That is a very unusual position to be in. We cannot vaccinate against most cancers. We can vaccinate against two of the biggest causes on this list. There is a free HPV vaccine programme in UK schools. There is a hepatitis B vaccine in the routine baby schedule. H. pylori can be found with a test and cleared with a course of antibiotics and acid-reducing medicine. Hepatitis C can now be cured in most people with tablets taken for a few weeks. So the headline is serious, but the message underneath it is hopeful. A big share of the world's cancer burden is already preventable with tools that exist and are in use today. It also explains why so much effort goes into vaccination uptake. When the UK Health Security Agency reports that teenage HPV coverage has slipped, it is not box-ticking. It is this.
What the evidence actually says
It is worth being careful about what this study is and is not. It is a modelling study. The researchers did not follow 2.3 million people and watch their cancers develop. They combined known cancer case numbers with estimates of how common each infection is, and how strongly each one raises cancer risk. That means the figures are estimates with uncertainty around them. IARC is open about this. What is not in doubt is the link itself. The connection between HPV and cervical cancer, between hepatitis B and C and liver cancer, and between H. pylori and stomach cancer is long established and accepted by cancer agencies worldwide. IARC has classified these agents as causes of cancer in humans for years. The study's job was to put a number on the scale. Two other points matter for readers in the UK. First, an infection does not mean cancer is coming. Most people who carry H. pylori never get stomach cancer. Most people who catch HPV clear it without any problem. These germs raise risk; they do not seal a person's fate. Second, the UK's picture is different from the global one. Most of this burden sits in parts of the world where vaccination coverage is lower, hepatitis is more common and screening is harder to reach. Britain's rates of these specific cancers are lower, partly because of decades of vaccination and screening work. The honest summary is this: a global study has measured a preventable cause of cancer more completely than before, and the number is large.
Qurexa perspective
There is a real pharmacy connection here, so it is worth saying plainly. Two of the five big causes on this list are handled mainly through medicines and vaccines that come through pharmacies and GP surgeries. H. pylori is one of them. Clearing it means taking a combination of antibiotics and a stomach-acid medicine, usually twice a day for a week or two. It only works properly if the whole course is finished. Stopping early is one of the main reasons treatment fails, and a failed course can make the bacteria harder to clear next time. That is exactly the kind of short, fiddly, easy-to-forget course where adherence support earns its keep. Qurexa delivers prescriptions across Lincolnshire and supports people with staying on top of their medicines, which includes short courses like these as well as long-term ones. We would rather you heard that from the facts than from a sales pitch, so here is the honest limit of it: we cannot prevent cancer. We can help make sure a course of treatment that a doctor has already prescribed actually gets finished.
Practical advice
None of this needs panic. It does need a few sensible checks. **Say yes to the HPV vaccine.** It is offered in school in Year 8 in England, to girls and boys. If your child missed it, catch-up is available up to age 25 through the NHS. Ask your GP surgery. **Check your child's routine jabs include hepatitis B.** Since 2017 it has been part of the 6-in-1 vaccine given to babies in the UK. If you are unsure what your child has had, ask your GP for their immunisation record. **Go to cervical screening when you are invited.** Screening now looks for HPV first. It finds the infection before any cell changes become dangerous. An invitation that sits on the kitchen table does nothing. **Do not ignore long-term indigestion.** Persistent heartburn, stomach pain or feeling full quickly deserves a conversation with your GP or pharmacist, not another month of over-the-counter remedies. A simple breath or stool test can check for H. pylori. **Finish the course.** If you are given antibiotics for H. pylori, take every dose, at the right times, to the end. Set a phone alarm if it helps. **Consider a hepatitis test if you are at higher risk.** That includes people born in countries where hepatitis B or C is common, anyone who has shared needles, and anyone who had a blood transfusion in the UK before 1991. Both infections can sit quietly for decades. Hepatitis C can usually be cured.
What to know
IARC estimates that 2.3 million new cancers in 2024, about one in eight worldwide, were caused by infections. Five germs did almost all of it: H. pylori, HPV, hepatitis B, Epstein-Barr virus and hepatitis C. About 77% of the burden fell on low-income and middle-income countries. The figures are estimates from a modelling study, not a head count. The underlying links are well established. The useful part is that these are among the few causes of cancer we can act on directly. Two have vaccines on the NHS schedule. Two can be treated or cured with medicines. One is picked up by cervical screening. If you do one thing after reading this, make it the simplest one: take up the vaccines and screening you are offered, and finish any treatment course you are given. Sources: International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO), 'Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2024: One in eight cancers worldwide linked to infections', 28 September 2026, https://www.iarc.who.int/news-events/global-burden-of-cancer-attributable-to-infections-in-2024-one-in-eight-cancers-worldwide-linked-to-infections/ ; The Lancet Oncology, 'Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2024: a worldwide incidence analysis', 28 September 2026, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/issue/current ; CIDRAP, University of Minnesota, 'More than 2 million new cancer cases caused by infections in 2024, study finds', October 2026, https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/hivaids/more-2-million-new-cancer-cases-caused-infections-2024-study-finds This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. If you are worried about symptoms, or about which vaccines you or your child have had, speak to your GP surgery or pharmacist.
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