UTIs and Bladder Cancer
- Can urinary tract infections cause bladder cancer? The answer is mostly no.
- There's a special type of infection that's generated by an organism that isn't a bacteria, it's an organism called schistosoma.
- However, there's a specific type of schistosoma around the Nile Delta in Egypt, and that schistosoma causes bladder cancer.
"Some people have often asked whether urinary tract infections expose patients or put patients at risk for bladder cancer," Dr. Dan Theodorescu, urological oncologist and director of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai, tells SurvivorNet. "Well, it turns out that (the) most common urinary tract infections that we have in this country (the United States) and most parts of the world do not generally put people at higher risk (for bladder cancer.)"
Read MoreWhat is a Schistosoma?
A schistosoma is an organism that lives in water. It's possible for humans to be exposed to this organism; it can penetrate your body and it basically nests in your bladder, as well as in other organs, Dr. Theodorescu explains. However, there's a specific type of schistosoma called schistosoma haematobium that lives around the Nile Delta in Egypt, and that schistosoma causes bladder cancer."But it is interesting because the bladder cancer that it causes," Dr. Theodorescu says, "although it has some features of the routine, if you will, bladder cancer in other parts of the world, that bladder has a different biology it tends to be more indolent (lazy), as a general way rule, than the type of bladder cancer that we have here (in the United States)."
UTIs and Bladder Cancer
Unless you're planning to visit the Nile Delta in Egypt anytime soon, it's safe to say that no, the common UTI found in the U.S. is not associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer.
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