Can You Catch Cancer? How To Protect Yourself (Surgeon Explains)

Can you catch cancer? No. But you can catch an infection that, years later, raises your risk of one. A cancer surgeon walks through the study behind the "1 in 8 cancers are caused by infections" headlines: what it counted, what it didn't, the 5 germs that are almost the whole story, and the 4 things that actually protect you. THE SHORT ANSWER - 1 in 8 is a worldwide average of new cancers in one year. For North America the same paper says about 1 in 20. - Five infections account for nearly all of it: H. pylori, HPV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and Epstein-Barr. - Most people who carry these germs never get cancer. For four of the five there is a vaccine, a test, or a treatment. Get The Surgeon's Brief (once a month, free): https://docstockton.com/signup CHAPTERS 0:00 Can You Catch Cancer? 0:29 Who I Am 0:41 What "1 In 8" Actually Counts 1:04 Not Deaths, Not Your Odds 1:42 It Depends On Where You Live 2:20 Where Infections Rank In The U.S. 2:27 The Headline That Overstated It 2:52 #1 H. pylori: The Stomach Bacterium 3:57 Who Should Ask For An H. pylori Test 4:18 Treating It: A Third Less Stomach Cancer 4:30 MALT Lymphoma: Treating The Germ Treats The Cancer 5:05 Life After Stomach Surgery 5:25 #2 HPV 6:15 What The Vaccine Can't Do, And The Ages 6:35 The Swedish Study 6:56 #3 And #4 Hepatitis B And C 7:56 Test At Least Once 8:27 One Honest Limit 8:43 #5 Epstein-Barr 9:13 The Other 7 9:23 Most Carriers Never Get Cancer 9:39 Can Your Family Catch It? 10:05 Did You Cause This? 10:15 Not Every Infection Is A Cancer Risk 10:37 4 Things You Can Do 11:00 Ask Your Doctor 3 Things 11:21 Free Newsletter 11:35 What To Watch Next MORE FROM DR. STOCKTON Skin Cancer: It's Not The Size That Kills: https://youtu.be/m13nnfg_bV4 Does Keto Or Fasting Cause Cancer—Or Prevent It? https://youtu.be/k6tLTWRhCXU Does Sugar Feed Cancer? What to eat during treatment: https://youtu.be/UskEcecAWTE Fatty Liver: How To Fix It For Free: https://youtu.be/xZ6uekA26_0 Colon Cancer Warning Signs that get brushed off: https://youtu.be/blWBhA3IziA Creatine And Cancer: Should You Stop? https://youtu.be/fgwyMduPTIQ When Should You Get Screened For Colon Cancer? https://youtu.be/4VzIEu5I-8E Colonoscopy Or Blood Test? https://youtu.be/VgMd9mJrM-k Does A Liver Detox Actually Do Anything? https://youtu.be/DfnTDE5NmP8 Found A Lump? 3 red flags: https://youtu.be/37fh5xEdtoU Cancer Cases Are Rising: https://youtu.be/1TqOLeEmgXo ABOUT DR. STOCKTON Dr. Leah Stockton is a double board-certified general surgeon and surgical oncologist in private practice in Idaho. https://docstockton.com DISCLOSURES Nothing here is for sale. No product, no course, no supplement, no sponsor. The microbe, organ and procedure clips and stills are AI-generated illustrations, marked on screen where they could be mistaken for real footage. The headlines shown are screenshots of the outlets named on screen. Vaccine and testing points reflect CDC recommendations as of October 2026; nobody should be forced to take a vaccine, and everyone deserves the facts. STUDIES AND SOURCES (PubMed IDs in parentheses) The study behind the headlines: Rumgay et al., Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2024, Lancet Oncology 2026;27:1237–48, doi 10.1016/S1470-2045(26)00307-4 (IARC/WHO). All worldwide, regional and per-infection counts, including the ranking of the 12 infections and the North America figure, come from this paper. U.S. risk-factor ranking: Islami et al., CA Cancer J Clin 2024 (38990124) H. pylori treatment and stomach cancer: Ford et al., Gastroenterology 2025, 8 randomized trials (39824392) · Choi et al., NEJM 2020, doi 10.1056/NEJMoa1909666 Gastric MALT lymphoma: Lemos et al., World J Gastroenterol 2023 (37122607) HPV vaccination and cervical cancer: Lei et al., NEJM 2020, doi 10.1056/NEJMoa1917338 (Swedish registry, 1.7 million women; adjusted relative reductions, observational) · CDC: HPV vaccination recommendations Hepatitis B and C testing and vaccination: CDC hepatitis B screening recommendations (MMWR 2023, RR-72) · CDC hepatitis C testing recommendations · AASLD/IDSA HCV guidance (liver-cancer surveillance after cure when cirrhosis is present) Epstein-Barr: CDC, About Epstein-Barr Virus The correction: Daily Mail, 28–29 September 2026 ("fourth-largest cause of cancer globally") versus Table 2 of the Rumgay paper (fourth among the 12 infections studied) DISCLAIMER General education, not individual medical advice. Whether you should be tested, vaccinated or treated for any of these infections is a conversation for you and your doctor. #cancer #hpylori #hpv