Is cancer contagious

There is no way that you can “catch” cancer from someone else or give it to others. This idea probably developed because of the fears associated with the disease, especially years ago, when so little could be done for the illness …

http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu/books/chapter.cfm?b=6&s=2&c=7

Cancer is NOT contagious, BUT it can be hereditary. Family history of prostate or breast cancer may indicate that you are also at high risk of getting it.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071219101928AA2udmf&show=7

please. you shouldn’t joke about cancer xxxx

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090319043527AA6Umte

Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers

Why isn’t cancer contagious in the same way AIDS is?

Q: I was just thinking about this. AIDS is spread by unprotected sex and by using used needles. AIDS is in blood, right? Well, doesn’t cancer take place in blood? If you took a syringe and took some blood from someone who has cancer and put it into a person who doesn’t have cancer, shouldn’t that person catch it since the cancer cells would just start taking over that person’s body?Thanks for informative answers! I’ve been wondering this for a while.

A: First ask yourself, what is cancer ? What di I understand it to be ? Then you will have your answer.What causes cancer?We do not know all of the risks and causes of cancer. However, there are a number of chemical, physical and biological agents that have been shown to trigger the mistakes in the cell blueprint that cause cancer. These are called carcinogens and include tobacco, ultraviolet radiation and asbestos.A number of cancers share risk factors:- one in nine cancers, and one in five cancer deaths, are due to smoking – about 3% of cancers are related to alcohol consumption – many cancers occur as a direct result of dietary influences, from infectious agents or exposure to radiation (especially skin cancers from ultraviolet radiation) – some cancers result from inherited ‘faulty’ genes – cancer is NOT caused by injury or stress. Is cancer contagious?Cancer is not contagious. There is no reason to avoid people with cancer, and in fact they will need your support and understanding. We now know that some cancer genes are hereditary and so several family members may have the same or related types of cancer. This is due to an inherited genetic disorder, not spending time together. Human papilloma virus (HPV), a virus that causes 70% of cervical cancer, is contagious and is transmitted via sexual activity. However, cervical cancer itself is not contagious.NOW WHAT ABOUT YOUR FINAL ANSWER……Can you ‘catch’ cancer from the blood of someone who is precancerous? Implausible as it sounds, some doctors suspected that several cancers, and especially non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, could be transmitted via blood transfusion.But after analysing the progress of 12,012 individuals who had received blood from pre-cancerous donors, researchers discovered that it is just another medical myth. The recipients were no more likely to develop cancer than those who had a transfusion from healthy donors.The results were the same even when the researchers factored in the number of transfusions, the age and the gender of the recipient, and the type of cancer the donor had.As it stands, cancer victims – and survivors – are not allowed to give blood. Judging by what they’ve gone through, that’s the last thing they should be thinking about anyway, even if they can’t ‘give’ it to someone else.I hope this info has helped you,All the best to you

Does the version of hpv that causes cervical cancer be contagious or give you genital warts ?

Q: when having sex with your partner thats been told she has hpv that causes cervical cancer be contagious and or can she give you genital warts

A: All forms of HPV are contagious, even if you aren’t currently having an outbreak of genital warts.As far as warts and cervical cancer, there are a lot of types of HPV and typically, the high risk strains that cause cancer, do not have visible symptoms, like warts. There are a few high risk strains that do have visible warts, but from what I understand, they typically aren’t the cauliflower looking warts that the low risk strains cause.

Can skin cancer be contagious through ingestion?

Q: If a person has skin cancer, and the skin with the melanoma is ingested by someone in some rare occurence, can it still metastasize? If not, why not?and not just melanoma, general skin cancer too. Sorry for the confusion!

A: Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer that originates in melanocytes, the cells that produce the skin’s pigment (melanin). Like all cancers, melanoma results from unrepaired damage to DNA, genetic material that is present in every cell.Melanoma is the least common of the two types of skin cancer, accounting for about 4 percent of all skin cancer cases. However, it is the most deadly form of skin cancer and is responsible for about 75 percent of skin cancer–related deaths each year, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It can spread to almost every organ or tissue in the body. Untreated, melanoma can cause death within a year of diagnosis. I can’t imagine that it can spread by ingestion but please read up on skin cancer at the site below. I’m sure you’ll find the information you need as well as a good education on this topic!http://cancer.health.ivillage.com/skincancer/skincancer(melanoma).cfm