Cancer and Its Root Causes - A Historical Analysis

Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world after cardiovascular diseases. Half of men and one third of women in the United States will develop cancer during their lifetimes. Today, millions of cancer people extend their life due to early identification and treatment. Cancer is not a new disease and has afflicted people throughout the world. The word cancer came from a Greek words karkinos to describe carcinoma tumors by a physician Hippocrates (460–370 B.C), but he was not the first to discover this disease. Some of the earliest evidence of human bone cancer was found in mummies in ancient Egypt and in ancient manuscripts dates about 1600 B.C. The world’s oldest recorded case of breast cancer hails from ancient Egypt in 1500 BC and it was recorded that there was no treatment for the cancer, only palliative treatment. Communicating the status of the evolving science in the context of the overall scientific evidence base, and evidence-based dietary recommendations for cancer prevention, should be emphasized in guidance for the public and for individual patients. According to inscriptions, surface tumors were surgically removed in a similar manner as they are removed today. A historical view of the discoveries of the causes and treatment of human cancer is presented with extended discussions of the difficulties encountered in identifying viral causes of cancer.