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A study has found that more than one in 10 new cancer cases around the globe in 2024 were the result of an initial infection by bacteria or viruses.

The study, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, suggested that this means a significant proportion of the cancers diagnosed globally could be prevented by addressing the infections which cause them.

Gary Clifford is a cancer epidemiologist who co-authored the study, and suggested that targeting the root causes is already possible, and may reduce the need for more complicated and unpleasant cancer treatments.

“We have very actionable targets,” he said. “We have very many tools against these viruses already.”

This could include public health measures such as vaccine programs to help protect populations against viruses, the Washington Post reports.

Such measures have already proven effective in slowing the spread of human papillomavirus, HPV, which is particularly linked to cervical cancer, as well as other forms of cancer.

“Viruses are not designed or evolved to cause cancer,” said Clifford, “but it can be a side effect.”

Other viruses linked to cancer include the Epstein-Barr virus, which is generally asymptomatic but can cause nasopharyngeal cancer, as well as Hepatitis B which can cause liver cancer.

There is also Helicobacter pylori, which is a kind of bacteria that can lead to stomach cancer.

Altogether, diseases were linked to approximately 2.3 million new cancer cases in 2024, which made up around 12 percent of the 20 million new cases in that year, and a similar figure to 2018.

The fact that the figure hasn’t changed much in those six years was called ‘alarming’ by professor of epidemiology at Harvard University Lorelei Mucci, who called it a ‘failure of public health’.

“We really know how to prevent a lot of these cancers from happening by preventing the infection,” said Mucci.

Study co-author Harriet Rumgay, who is an epidemiologist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, highlighted that the more recent study covers a larger range of diseases linked to cancer, which may reflect in the figures.

Nonetheless, she agreed that it appears to have mostly stayed similar.

There are things that you can do to mitigate your risk, and one of them is getting vaccinated.

The HPV vaccine is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) ‘starting the HPV vaccine series between 9 and 12 years’, meanwhile the hepatitis B vaccine is recommended to be administered to all infants.

Clifford observed that the impact of vaccine programs may not yet show in the figures.

“The impact is coming,” Clifford said. “The vaccinated cohorts are already protected, but we haven’t yet seen it in the cancer rates, but we will.”

However, the emphasis in the programs is on maintaining effective public health programs, which can itself be impacted by funding cuts, as well as growing hesitancy around vaccines.

Donald Trump’s second administration ahas involved buts to foreign aid, including global health initiatives which could support vaccine programs.

Meanwhile, a move by US federal officials to bring an end to hepatitis B birth-dose was suspended by a federal judge in March.

Donald Trump has credited deportations to a maximum-security prison where inmates are dubbed ‘dead men walking’ for curbing crime in the US – so what is life like in the world’s most notorious jail?

45 miles east of El Salvador’s capital city lies the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a 40,000-capacity mega-prison which has been central to President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on organised crime across the Central American country.

Since opening its doors in January 2023, the controversial mega-prison has been at the centre of a human rights controversy, with critics alleging that prisoners’ human rights are being violated.

However, the prison also has numerous influential supporters, with the US leader being one of them.

Trump gave a shout-out to the jail ahead of the upcoming US midterm elections on his Truth Social account, claiming the US is sending its ‘killers, drug dealers and thugs’ to El Salvador, before going on to claim: “This is why murder and other crimes in America are at record lows.”

Inside CECOT’s ‘cemetery of living men’

Access to CECOT is notoriously difficult, with the El Salvadorian government controlling what is reported to the outside world.

This was evident during Richard Madeley’s Channel 5 documentary, Richard Madeley: Inside the World’s Mega Prison, when the broadcaster struggled to get answers from the prison guards or interview time with one of the jail’s inmates.

However, Madeley was able to get a pretty decent picture of what a day in the life of a CECOT inmate looks like – and it’s absolutely brutal.

Lights are kept on in the prison 24/7, meaning that inmates are forced to sleep under blinding artificial light.

However, this doesn’t mean that inmates will never see darkness again in their lives, as CECOT’s isolation cells are pitch-black and completely silent, meaning that troublesome inmates sent there spend 30 days groping around in the dark.

“[The main prison] would seem like freedom,” Madeley said after viewing one of the prison’s 92 isolation cells. “Boy, you would do exactly what you are told.”

When it comes to meals, the inmates are given 1800 calories a day and live off a diet of rice, beans and a tortilla, all of which are eaten by hand, as cutlery is not allowed.

Inmates also spend 23.5 hours a day locked inside mega cells, only being allowed out for light exercise.

Recreation is also banned, with the only book available to inmates being the Bible.

Is Donald Trump sending US prisoners to CECOT?

Trump’s post seemingly suggests that US criminals have been deported to CECOT, but how accurate is this?

In March 2025, it was reported that 261 Venezuelans were expelled to CECOT from the US under Trump’s mass-deportation policy. They were later released back to Venezuela in July, becoming the only inmates to leave the prison.

Former inmates were also able to provide testimonies about their treatment inside CECOT, with one person claiming the jail’s director, Belarmino García, told them the following upon arrival: “Welcome to hell. Welcome to the cemetery of living men. The only way you leave here is dead.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed earlier this month that 100 El Salvadorans had been deported to the country. However, it is unclear whether or not they were detained at CECOT.

A 44-year-old woman who had fallen from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Odyssey of the Seas earlier this month was found alive and rescued from the water after a 20-hour ordeal.

The woman, an El Salvador native, had been on the Mediterranean cruise which had been sailing off the coast of Greece, with the vessel having departed from Italy on 4 October for a week-long voyage.

According to a release from the Hellenic Coast Guard, she had fallen into the water on the morning of 9 October and spent around 20 hours in the water before she was found.

With a woman overboard, a ‘local emergency plan’ was triggered which alerted other vessels in the area, deploying rescue vessels and a helicopter to join the search.

It was a cargo ship, the MSC Rossella III, which had been participating in the search effort that ultimately found the woman.

The coastguard shared footage of the moment the woman was rescued, with her being spotted floating in the water in an orange life ring before a rope was thrown over to her.

Crew on board the ship asked her if she was alright and she was able to grab the rope and pull herself closer to the cargo ship.

Take a look at the moment she was rescued below:

She received first aid after getting brought on board and was then brought to Katakolo in Greece where she was taken to hospital for ‘medical monitoring and medical examinations’.

A preliminary investigation into the matter has been launched, but fortunately the 44-year-old woman overboard was rescued alive and well.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement: “We immediately launched a search and rescue effort and are working with authorities.

“Our Care Team is actively providing support and assistance to the guest’s loved ones during this difficult time. For the privacy of the guest and their family, we have no additional details to share.”

What happens when someone falls overboard on a cruise ship?

When someone falls overboard on a cruise ship a protocol kicks into place which results in the ship logging the location where the ‘man overboard’ warning was issued to give themselves and other vessels an idea of where to look.

The sea is a vast expanse that often lacks distinctive features or landmarks, so having the right coordinates as a starting point is crucial.

Vessel crews are trained on how to act when responding to someone in the water, so they know exactly what they have to do when the search begins and how best to conduct themselves.

Sadly, despite it being a scenario crews train properly, for the survival rate for people going overboard into the sea is low, so it is very fortunate that the woman who spent 20 hours in the water was recovered alive.