Cancer and what if cancer is cured - Term Paper Example

The uncontrollable growth of cells results in formation of malignant tumors. The cells divide and grow fast to invade surrounding body parts as the growth enlarges and expands. Some cancerous growths spread to other very distant places on the body through the blood stream or the lymphatic system. It is worth noting that not all tumors and growths on the body are cancerous. Benign tumors for instance do not spread all over the body or invade body tissues near them. As of today, there are about 200 known types of cancerous infections that inflict human beings.

The cancerous growths are often very harmful to and affect the normal functioning of the human body. After a cancer infection, one’s body loses control over the growth of the cells which begin to divide and split and enlarge. Healthy and normal body cells often split and divide from time to time as they create other healthy cells in the body. This process however has been used to facilitate the growth and spread of cancerous cells once one becomes infected. The cancerous cells divide and recreate themselves as they make other copies of themselves leading to more cancerous cells.

The process goes on as the tumors enlarge and expand to the nearby parts. These cancerous growths usually make the victim uncomfortable and in some cancers, it is usually very painful. Metastasis is a process that enables cancerous cells to spread to other body tissues. Metastasis involves cancerous cells moving through the blood stream of the lymphatic system. This process of spreading cancer cells to other body parts is often referred to as metastasizing. In developed countries, cancer has been recognized as the biggest cause of death.

In some cases it has been compared to HIV/AIDS in developing countries especially in the early 90’s. It has become one of the most researched diseases in the world today with most studies focusing on prevention and cure, as well as early detection among other aspects of the dreaded disease. Cancer can affect anyone irrespective of their age. A majority of the cancer infections however mostly affect people as they tend to grow older (Kinzler & Vogelstein, 2002). The reason for this is that as an individual grows older, their DNA gets old too.

This results in the DNA being damaged, or any other damage that may have happened before may get worsen the situation as one grows older. There are also other types of cancer that are more common among young people than the old. Testicular cancer, also known as cancer of the testicles, for instance is more common among young males than among older men. Cancer is caused by a wide range of complex and diverse issues, most of them have only been understood partially with studies going on to determine the specific causes.

The few universally acknowledged causal agents of cancer include exposure to radiation, obesity, tobacco, environmental pollutions, other dietary factors and lack of adequate physical activity. All these factors damage body genes leading to development of cancerous cells. They can also combine with other factors in the body to damage genes and cause cancer to victims through mutations on various body parts that will spread to other parts throughout the development of the disease. About 5-10% of cancer infections occur as inherited genetic defects from cancerous infections that run down through