The Cancer Menace

Cancer
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The cancer menace
The earth as we know it today is quite old, approximately 4.5 billion years. Humankind has evolved through most of his 7 million years of being in existence. Throughout his time, he has had quite an experience while interacting with the planet. Overtime there has been problems that have not been solved which still begs the questions; why did they happen, how did they come to be, how can they be resolved for good. One of these unresolved nightmares is cancer, which is a group of malignant cells that grow uncontrollably forming cancerous tumours. There are many kinds of cancer, which attack body organs all over the human body (American Cancer Society, 2012).
Today cancer is the second most deadly disease, claiming millions of people every year. The disease has not developed in the last century, but it has been around for a long time. Around 3000 BC, there are records that document the terror that it has continued to mint on its victims. In some archaeological findings, there have fossilised skeletons that have evidence of bone cancer (American Cancer Society, 2012). Although the disease was not given the name cancer, as we call it today, in some parts of Egypt there are texts documenting tumours and ulcers on the breasts of patients. These texts also confirmed that there was no cure for the strange disease, and most of the patients died during treatment. The name first developed in Greece, by a physician called Hippocrates around 400 BC (who named it carcinoma or carcinos) and later became known as cancer, with the help of Celsus, a Roman physician. It begs the question; why is it that a disease that is this old, continues to claim life in the present age at such an alarming rate (American Cancer Society, 2012).
It is crucial to look into the main causal agents, to understand the basics of cancer, and help demystify the deadly disease (Science-Based Medicine, 2012). During the fifteenth century, the scientists began to understand the human anatomy in depth. In the nineteenth century, there were many theories that came up to try to explain the cause of cancer. In ancient Egypt, there were beliefs that it could be the gods’ way of punishing the wicked. It was during the same era that most of the causes of these groups of diseases became apparent. The group is incredibly complex, with causal agents that are all around humans. P...