Contents:

Cancer - A Killer Disease - Introduction and Types
Cancer - A Killer Disease - Symptoms, Causes, Prevention
Cancer - A Killer Disease - Types of Treatment
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Cancer is a dangerous disease in which certain cells in our body grow in an uncontrolled way. It is one of the world’s most serious illnesses. Together with heart attacks it kills more people than any other disease in the world.

The human body has blllions of cells. They are tiny elements of living material. Cells always reproduce themselves. Normally our body controls this process. It tells cells to divide themselves when we need it and to stop when we don’t. Sometimes, however, cell growth gets out of control and the production of cells doesn’t stop.

These cells that produce new tissue are called tumours. They can be benign or good tumours or malignant or bad tumours. A benign tumour usually stays in the same area in which it starts growing. It is often harmless. A malignant tumour however is dangerous. It can grow and spread to healthy cells and destroy them. Cells from malignant tumours can also spread to other parts of the body and produce more tumours. These malignant tumours are the ones that cause cancer and may even lead to death. Sometimes they enter the blood and lymphatic system. When this happens cancer metasizes.

 

 

The lymphatic system

 

 

Types of cancer
 

There are over a hundred different types of cancer. Although it can strike people of all ages older people get cancer more often than younger ones. Cancer is not one single illness. It can attack all parts of the body and spread to other areas.

 

Among the most common types of cancer are:

Bone cancer –most cases are caused by cancer somewhere else in the body
Brain tumours – there are over a hundred different types, depending on the cells of your brain
Breast cancer – the most common form of cancer in women around the world
Bowel cancer – this form of cancer can be best treated if you detect it early
Leukaemia – Blood cancer affects people of all ages groups
Lung cancer – is one of the deadliest forms of cancer
Prostate cancer – one of the most common forms of cancer that affect men of 50 and older
Skin Cancer – can be avoided if you protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays.
 

Unlike infectious diseases like AIDS or the flu cancer is not contagious – it does not spread from one person to another.