Bob and Bonnie Krall [shown left to right] were diagnosed with three types of cancer between them in a 14-month stretch despite having no genetic predispositions. Both had Covid previously.
Rare and ‘unusual’ cancers are emerging after the Covid pandemic
COVID-19 patients developing rare and serious cancers: Doctors (thehill.com)
Long Covid may be linked to rare cancers: Doctors | Vargas Reports (youtube.com)
Dr. Kashyap Patel is one of many doctors around the world who, when treating Covid patients, noticed that some contracted rare, powerful forms of cancer. Two of them are Bob and Bonnie Krall, who’ve dealt with three forms of cancer for more than a year. Patel and the Kralls shared their experiences on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” #RiseAbove #WakeUp #Unete #CuéntameOrangeCounty
Rare and ‘unusual’ cancers appear to be linked to Covid (msn.com)
‘Unusual’ cancers emerged after the pandemic. Doctors ask if covid is to blame. : r/EverythingScience (reddit.com)
Doctors in the US believe the covid virus, not the jabs, is to blame for the ‘unusual’ cancers that have emerged since the pandemic. Since about 2021, they have been seeing young people with rare and unusual forms of cancers that typically affect seniors in their 70s and 80s. They are also noticing other strange things, such as patients coming down with multiple cancers at the same time.
This coincidentally started happening just after the covid jabs were rolled out Daily Mail OnlineBut doctors do not believe this to be the primary driver of advanced, rare cancer cases. Instead, they think Covid itself is to blame. Dr Kashyap Patel, a North Carolina oncologist, has seen the phenomenon firsthand. He saw a patient in his 40s in 2021 who had a rare cancer of the bile ducts, which transport fluid produced by the liver to the small intestine, where it aids in the absorption and digestion of fats. This type of cancer typically affects people in their 70s and 80s.
Then, multiple other patients he met with were diagnosed with an array of different cancers, something he said he has never seen in his two decades of practicing medicine. One couple he investigated were Bob and Bonnie Krall of Fort Mill, South Carolina, who in a 14-month period was diagnosed with three types of cancer between them despite having no family history of the disease.
Mr Krall was diagnosed with a rare chronic blood and bone marrow cancer, while Mrs Krall had a cancerous mass in her abdomen weighing eight and a half pounds, according to the Washington Post. Mr Krall later learned that several of his neighbors had the same type of cancer: ‘It’s like a cold. It seems like everyone has it.’ CDC data shows that more people are being told they have cancer now than they were prior to the pandemic.
In 2021, 9.8 percent of adults reported having ever been told by a doctor that they had cancer. In 2019, that proportion of adults was 9.5 percent. Viruses have been known to accelerate cancer since the 1960s, and researchers contend that a quarter of all cancers worldwide originated with HPV, Epstein-Barr virus, and hepatitis B. They cannot definitively rule out the Covid vaccines as playing a role, but believe the evidence supporting the virus theory to be much stronger.
READ MORE: Global cancer phenomenon sees mystery spikes of kinds of tumors – Search (bing.com)By CASSIDY MORRISON SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COMPUBLISHED: 11:54 EDT, 6 June 2024 | UPDATED: 16:55 EDT, 6 June 2024
Doctors across the US are reporting an alarming health trend in the wake of the Covid pandemic. Since about 2021, they have been noticing rare and unusual cancers in patients who shouldn’t fit the bill – many of them young and without any family history of disease. And they’re coming down with obscure forms of the disease that typically affect seniors in their 70s and 80s, including hard to pronounce ones like cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and lethal cancer of the bile ducts.There are other strange things happening, such as patients coming down with multiple cancers at the same time.
The pandemic forced people to isolate and put off preventative care measures that would screen for various types of cancers, out of fear of being infected.But doctors do not believe this to be the primary driver of advanced, rare cancer cases. Instead, they think Covid itself is to blame. Dr Kashyap Patel, a North Carolina oncologist, has seen the phenomenon firsthand.
He saw a patient in his 40s in 2021 who had a rare cancer of the bile ducts, which transport fluid produced by the liver to the small intestine, where it aids in the absorption and digestion of fats.This type of cancer typically affects people in their 70s and 80s. Then, multiple other patients he met with were diagnosed with an array of different cancers, something he said he has never seen in his two decades of practicing medicine.
One couple he investigated were Bob and Bonnie Krall of Fort Mill, South Carolina, who in a 14 month period were diagnosed with three types of cancer between them despite having no family history of the disease.Mr Krall was diagnosed with a rare chronic blood and bone marrow cancer, while Mrs Krall had a cancerous mass in her abdomen weighing eight and a half pounds, according to the Washington Post.
Mr Krall later learned that several of his neighbors had the same type of cancer: ‘It’s like a cold. It seems like everyone has it.’CDC data shows that more people are being told they have cancer now than they were prior to the pandemic. In 2021, 9.8 percent of adults reported having ever been told by a doctor that they had cancer. In 2019, that proportion of adults was 9.5 percent.
Dr Kashyap Patel, a North Carolina oncologist, has treated patients in their 40s with rare and advanced cancers post-CovidViruses have been known to accelerate cancer since the 1960s, and researchers contend that a quarter of all cancers worldwide originated with HPV, Epstein-Barr virus, and hepatitis B.They cannot definitively rule out the Covid vaccines as playing a role, but believe the evidence supporting the virus theory to be much stronger.
Lab tests suggest that coronavirus proteins can reawaken dormant cancer cells and fuel their growth, increasing the odds of being diagnosed with breast, stomach, and blood cancers.Research into the links between Covid and cancer is relatively new, given the pandemic began only four years ago.
A 2023 report in the journal Biochimie detailed different means by which the coronavirus can change genes that usually stop tumors from forming and cause widespread inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation might lead to the development of cancer cells in various organs, including the lungs, pancreas, and colon.
The photo shows the coronavirus indicated in yellow,
Emerging from the surface of cells, indicated in blue/pink, cultured in a laboratory.
Research suggests that the virus can reawaken dormant cancer cells and cause whole body inflammation that can lead to the proliferation of cancer cells.
And a team in Colorado has begun probing the possibility that the coronavirus brings cancer cells to life in mice. A preprint released in April showed that when mice who had cancer previously but recovered were injected with the coronavirus, cancer cells multiplied and spread in the lungs. The flu virus was shown to do the same thing.
Researchers such as Dr Ashani Weeraratna of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Heath, were not exactly surprised by this finding.She said that it makes sense that ‘something like influenza or Covid that triggers inflammation could change in the immune microenvironment,’ adding, ‘it’s rare the data are so striking.’ Dr Weeraratna said: ‘Mitigating risk of infection may be of particular importance for cancer patients,’ Weeraratna said.
Based on the study’s findings, measures adopted by vulnerable patients starting in the early days of the pandemic — wearing masks, avoiding crowded places, getting vaccines — become even more important.’ The data shows that cancer incidence is up compared to 2019, the eve of the pandemic.
That year, about 1.7 million cancer diagnoses were reported and 599,601 people died of cancer in 2019. In 2022, an estimated 1.9 million new cancer diagnoses were made with around 609,000 cases proving fatal. 2023 data has not yet been made available, but projections show those cases and deaths increasing once again. The NIH estimates that nearly two million new cancer cases and nearly 610,000 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the US that year, but tallies are still being conducted.
Dr Patel is now researching the connection himself.
Based on data from over 300 patients, his office has logged over 15 patients with multiple cancers, about 35 who had rare cancers, and 15 couples with new cancers since the pandemic began four years ago. He posited that being infected with the virus more than once has an even greater impact, as did pandemic-related stress by exacerbating whole-body inflammation that could reactivate cancer cells.
The above graph shows the change in cancer case rates around the world.
Even during the first year of the Covid pandemic up to December 31, 2020, doctors began noticing an uptick in cancer cases.
A 2023 report in the journal Lancet Oncology looked at 2.4 million adults who had been diagnosed with cancer in 2018, 2019, and 2020. New cancer cases fell after the start of the pandemic, but ticked back up at the end of the year.The odds of being diagnosed with an advanced stage 4 cancer was more than seven percent higher in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Dr Xuesong Han, said: ‘I don’t have the data to support this opinion. But it’s an important question to follow up on.’
Publications
For a full list of Dr. XUESONG Han’s publications, see her Google Scholar page.
The connection between COVID-19, mental health, and smoking
Since our last report, COVID-19 has affected the health of individuals across the globe. From 2019 to 2021, life expectancy in the United States declined by 2.7 years – the largest two-year drop since the 1920s – with much of this decline attributed to COVID-19 deaths. In addition, mental health has also declined in the U.S. which seems to have been heightened by COVID-19.
This has been particularly true among youth, with 37% of U.S. high school students reporting poor mental health most of the time or always during the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop of worsening health indicators, disparities persist between Tobacco Nation and other states. Because the virus that causes COVID-19 attacks the lungs, the pandemic intensified concerns about the impact of smoking on health.
Similarly, declines in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic raise concerns about the relationship between mental health, tobacco use, and difficulties with quitting tobacco. This is especially true in Tobacco Nation, which has some of the highest smoking prevalence in the country.
According to CDC data, nine of the 12 Tobacco Nation states fall within the top 25% of state-level COVID-19 death rates. Individuals in Tobacco Nation also report poorer mental health, on average, than residents of other states. We know that smoking can harm mental health, increases the risk of infectious diseases and respiratory infections, and is a major cause of chronic health conditions and cancer.
Emerging evidence suggests that people who smoke may be at increased risk of infection and worse outcomes including progressing to critical condition or death from COVID-19. The combination of higher smoking prevalence, poor baseline physical and mental health, and limited access to health care created the perfect storm for COVID-19 to hit – harder than the rest of the nation – a community already beleaguered with health issues.
See “COVID-19: the connection to smoking and vaping, and resources for quitting,” “Tobacco Nation in the age of COVID-19,” and “Colliding Crises: Youth Mental Health and Nicotine Use” for additional information.
Smoking prevalence in Tobacco Nation remains higher than the rest of the nation
Tobacco use is disproportionately high in several U.S. states – particularly in the South and Midwest. In our 2017 report, “Tobacco Nation: The deadly state of smoking disparity in the U.S.,” we highlighted a group of 12 states in this region, all of which had higher smoking prevalence than the national average: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia. We called these states with very high smoking prevalence “Tobacco Nation.”
These states not only have a high prevalence of tobacco use, they also tend to have worse indicators of health, socioeconomic status, and coverage by tobacco policies. Our 2019 follow-up report “Tobacco Nation: An ongoing crisis” found that most smoking, demographic, and health characteristics remained largely unchanged and looked beyond the most current annual estimates to examine trends in smoking over time. It identified the same 12 states as the first report, plus South Carolina, as states that had consistently ranked in the top 25% of U.S. adult smoking since 2011.
This year, we once again identified areas of the U.S. where smoking prevalence among adults was consistently high between 2011 and 2020. Today, Tobacco Nation comprises the same 12 states we identified in 2017— Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia — with smoking prevalence within the top quarter of adult smoking prevalence in the country.
We flagged three additional states to monitor – Alaska, South Dakota, and Wyoming – that may be on the verge of joining Tobacco Nation. While South Carolina, which was included in our last report, still has higher smoking prevalence than the national average, it did not consistently rate in the top 25% of smoking prevalence for states in the period we examined.
Although smoking prevalence has declined across the U.S. since our 2019 report, residents of all ages in Tobacco Nation are still more likely to smoke than residents living in the rest of the U.S. Smoking prevalence is about 50% higher in Tobacco Nation compared to the rest of the U.S. among both adults (19% vs. 13%) as well as young adults (11% vs. 8%).
Youth in the region have a higher prevalence of cigarette smoking compared to the rest of the U.S. as well (6% vs. 4% in 2019). Not only is there a higher smoking prevalence among Tobacco Nation’s residents of all ages, but they also smoke nearly twice as many cigarettes per capita annually (53 packs vs. 29 packs) than those in the rest of the U.S., amounting to nearly 500 more cigarettes a year.
With more than 67 million residents, these states include roughly 21% of the U.S. population but represent more than 28% of all adult current smokers in the country. When compared to the rest of the U.S., residents of Tobacco Nation states are less educated, not as financially well-off, and less likely to be employed, especially in white-collar jobs — trends we noted in our first Tobacco Nation report that remain true today.
Have scientists cracked cancer mystery in young people?
Iowa, New Mexico Top List of Best States To Retire (msn.com)
Is Iowa Better Than Florida To Retire? What To Consider (msn.com)