Good day esteemed steemians! My topic of interest today is CANCER. Cancer has being in existence since the dawn of man, it was first mentioned in 1600 BC in an Egyptian papyrus(scroll), the name cancer was derived from the Greek word karkinos meaning crab or crayfish, it was called this probably because the cut surface of a tumor somewhat resembles a crab or crayfish. There are different types of cancer namely breast cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, skin cancer amongst others.
According to Wikipedia cancer can be defined as a large group of diseases that involve unusual cell growth with the potential to invade or spreads to other parts of the body. It occurs when cell grow out of control and take over various parts of the body, when the abnormal cells do not infest the rest of the body, but divide and swell up within their original tissue, this is not "cancer". It's a tumour. Tumours are mostly not life threatening because they can be removed but sometimes they occur in places that can't be accessible by the surgeons, in this instance they are terminal.
tobacco causes 22 percent of cancer, a further 10 percent is caused by alcoholism, unbalanced diet , improper physical activity and obesity.
HIV can also cause cancer.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
- Lumps
- Unusual bleeding
- Weight loss
- Extreme coughing
- Hair loss
- Tiredness and dizziness
- Fever
- Severe pain
- Changes in skin tone
- White patches in the mouth or around the tongue
- Indigestion troubles
CAUSATIVE AGENTS
- it can be genetically passed down from generation to generation
- smoking especially tobacco
- poor physical activity and proper exercise
- unbalanced diet
- obesity
- viruses and other forms of infection can lead to cancer
- Chemicals from our everyday products
- Poor atmospheric conditions due to poisonous gases from factories and industries.
TREATMENT
Although cancer can't be cured it can however be treated to reduce the victims pain and elongate their life as long as possible, some treatment methods includes:
- Chemotherapy treatment
- surgery
- radiation therapy
- certain medications like vaccination, Human papillomavirus vaccine has helped reduce cervical cancer.