It has become common knowledge that a lot of cases of lung cancer are caused by smoking. Cigarettes in particular contain over 60 known cancer causing substances, most notably radioactive isotopes of radon, nitrosamine and benzopyrene.

Furthermore, the nicotine seems to suppress the reaction of the immune system in response to malignant growths in the lungs.

It is estimated that 90% of all the lung cancer cases in the world are ,directly or indirectly, caused by smoking.

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that is caused by mycobacteria. The bacteria usually attack the lungs and cause symptoms such as:

Dry cough,
Bloody sputum,
Fever, and
Weight loss.

It is though that about one third of the world’s population is infected with the disease (only 10% of the infections results in active disease).

Now, Chinese scientists have shown that there is also a connection between tuberculosis and lung cancer. This long-term research was performed on 700,000 volunteers, who were all older than 20 years of age and had no prior history of lung cancer.

The volunteers were divided into two groups, one with tuberculosis and one without the disease. Both groups were followed for six years.

Results

The results of this research show that people of the group with tuberculosis suffered an almost 11 times higher risk of developing lung cancer than the control group. The mortality (from lung cancer) of the tuberculosis group was also significantly higher.

If their tuberculosis was complemented by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – also known as smoker’s lung because it is mainly caused by smoking – the risk of developing lung cancer was 16 times higher.

So, in conclusion, both smoking and tuberculosis increase the risk of developing lung cancer, and the combination of both increases this risk even further. Tuberculosis is an infection and, as such , is somewhat out of your own control. Should you suffer from it, the faster you get help, the less damage it can do to your lungs, the better your prospects. Smoking, however, is largely up to you, with the exception of second-hand smoke.

References

Biesalski, H.K.; Bueno de Mesquita, B. & Chesson, A. (1998). European Consensus Statement on Lung Cancer: risk factors and prevention. Lung Cancer Panel. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 48(3), pp. 167 – 176.
Hecht, S. (2003). Tobacco carcinogens, their biomarkers and tobacco-induced cancer. Nature Reviews Cancer. 3(10), pp. 733 – 74.
World Health Organization, WHO Tuberculosis Fact Sheet (March 2010).
Wu, C.Y.; Hu, H.Y.; Pu, C.Y.; Huang, N.; Shen, H.C.; Li, C.P. & Chou, Y.J. (2011). Pulmonary tuberculosis increases the risk of lung cancer: A population-based cohort study. Cancer. 117(3), pp. 618 – 624.