As
a physician-dermatologist I have studied various aspects
of the cancer microbe for over 30 years. In my book, The
Cancer Microbe (Aries Rising Press, 1990), I recount
a century of research by various scientists who have documented
the reality and importance of bacteria associated with cancer.
Despite a wealth of information on the microbiology of cancer,
this body of work has been largely ignored.
Why would medical science overlook the finding of bacterial
elements in cancer, particularly when the treatment of advanced
cancer is often abysmal and when the cause (or causes) of
many types of cancer remain unknown? If and when the bacterial
cause of cancer is widely accepted, it will be left to medical
historians to determine why the medical community failed
to recognise cancer bacteria. At the present time, it is
fair to say that most physicians are either unaware of cancer
microbe research, or ignore the published findings, or are
openly hostile to this research.
Unfortunately, medical doctors are limited by dogma about
cancer-associated bacteria that eliminated a bacterial cause
for cancer a century ago. In the late nineteenth century,
when the bacterial cause of many infectious diseases was
discovered, it was decided that cancer did not act like
an infectious or contagious disease, and therefore it was
concluded that bacteria were not causative.
Although a few scientists later found highly unusual and
pleomorphic bacteria, these bacteria were simply dismissed
as “contaminants” – or as microbes that had “secondarily
infected” cancerous growths. Furthermore, there was no single
or consistent type of microbe found, and animals experimentally
infected with cancer microbes did not give develop cancer.
Thus, decades before the rise of virology and molecular
biology, and at a time when “mycoplasma” forms of bacteria
were not known, the medical establishment concluded that
bacteria were not involved as a cause of cancer in any way.
This conclusion has coloured medical thought about cancer
to this day.
Historically, it took centuries for doctors to recognise
microbes as the cause of any disease. By the use of lenses,
germs were discovered 200 years before physicians finally
understood that microbes were capable of causing disease.
For two centuries the dogma was that those exceedingly tiny
“animacules” could not possibly be a threat to a grown person.
Once something becomes dogma in medical science, it is
very difficult to change medical thinking. Ordinarily, infectious
bacteria can be easily recognised in disease because they
can be seen microscopically in tissue sections from disease
states. Sometimes careful “special staining” of tissue sections
is necessary to make microbes more visible and more easily
identifiable. (In cancerous tissue, the cancer microbe is
most easily viewed with an “acid-fast” tissue stain, like
the special stain employed to identify the mycobacteria
that cause tuberculosis and leprosy).
In this so-called modern era of medical science, one
would think it impossible for disease experts to overlook
disease-causing bacteria. However, when a new and deadly
lung disease broke out among legionnaires in Philadelphia
in July 1976, two hundred twenty-two people became ill and
thirty-four died. The cause of the lung disease remained
a medical mystery for over five months. Bacterial infection
was ruled out when all tests were reported as negative.
Fortunately, one astute and careful microbiologist finally
discovered bacteria. Joe McDade at the Leprosy Branch of
the CDC, was able to detect “unusual bacteria” in guinea
pigs experimentally infected with lung tissue from the dead
legionnaires. Further modification of bacterial culture
methods finally allowed the isolation of causative bacteria,
now known as Legionella pneumophila.
Yet another modern example of dogma-defying research is
provided by recent studies proving that bacteria (Helicobacter
pylori) are a common cause of stomach ulcers, which
can eventually lead to stomach cancer and lymphoma. When
I went to medical school, stomach ulcers were thought to
be due to stress, lifestyle, or improper diet, and it was
not uncommon to send ulcer patients to psychiatrists for
analysis.
For a century, physicians refused to believe that bacteria
could cause ulcers because they thought bacteria could not
live in the acid environment of the stomach. In 1982 a researcher,
who was unable to convince his colleagues that bacteria
could cause ulcers and gastritis, actually proved his case
by drinking a culture of H. pylori. When he rapidly became
ill with stomach symptoms, he admitted himself to the hospital
where these bacteria were found to be associated with his
gastric disease. It also turned out that these bacteria
could indeed be detected in the stomach lining of stomach
ulcers, but only when the tissue was stained in a special
way to detect the bacteria. The CDC now claims that H. pylori
causes more than 90% of duodenal ulcers and 80% of gastric
ulcers. Approximately two-thirds of the world’s population
is infected with these microbes.
The present experience with ulcer-causing microbes proves
that bacteria can indeed pop up in diseases where they are
least expected. Such a caveat is appropriate for doctors
who think they know everything about cancer and who pooh-pooh
all aspects of cancer microbe research.
One perennial complaint about the so-called cancer microbe
is that is pleomorphic. For some reason, the idea that a
proposed cancer germ could have more than one form is a
threat to doctors and some microbiologists. Indeed the cancer
germ has been described as having a virus like and fungus-like,
as well as mycoplasma-like phase. Such a “life cycle” is
deemed nonsense and microbiologic heresy.
The many guises of the pleomorphic cancer microbe was studied
extensively in the 1960s and 70s by four remarkable women
scientists: Virginia Livingston (a physician); Eleanor Alexander-Jackson
(a microbiologist); Irene Diller (a cytologist); and Florence
Seibert, a chemist, tuberculosis expert, and inventor of
the tuberculin skin test. Their individual and collaborative
studies are essential reading to understand the proposed
microbiology of cancer.
This research clearly indicated that cancer microbes are
best detected by special tissue testing (similar to those
used in tuberculosis and leprosy research). And that the
cancer germ has some similarity to pleomorphic tuberculosis
germs.
In all its many forms the tuberculosis microbe is certainly
pleomorphic. (See the work of mycoplasma expert Lida H.
Mattman.) The bacteria that cause TB are known as “mycobacteria”.
Some forms of the bacillus are round “coccoid” forms; other
forms are more typically “acid-fast” and “rod” forms. All
mycobacteria form a phylogenetic link or bridge between
the bacteria and the “higher” fungi. “Myco” is Greek for
fungus. Ergo, myco-bacteria.
Under appropriate conditions, bacteria can lose their cell
wall and become amorphous, smaller, highly pleomorphic “cell-wall
deficient forms.” Under suitable conditions, mycoplasma
can enlarge to giant-sized forms (“Large bodies”) resembling
fungal and spore-like forms. It is vital to be aware of
and to recognise such unusual and hard-to-detect forms in
tissue microscopic sections because, in my experience, this
mycoplasmal form is the form the cancer microbe takes inside
the body in human disease. Due to their small size, Mycobacteria
form a bridge between (larger) bacteria and smaller) viruses.
Microbiologists love to separate (and classify) viruses,
bacteria, mycoplasma, and fungi, as distinct entities. In
fact, there is interplay between all of them. It is well-known
that bacteria can be infected with viruses. Nevertheless,
scientists cannot seem to understand how microbes can change
into virus-like, mycoplasma-like and fungus-like infectious
agents.
Because the cancer microbe is related to the bacteria that
cause tuberculosis, it is helpful to compare the microbiology
of cancer with what we know about the microbiology of mycobacteria
and their production of various forms of clinical TB.
Over the past half-century we have learned that TB is not
always caused by the same identical germs. TB infections
of the lung may be caused by various “atypical” mycobacteria
that are not identical to the common Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Also some atypical mycobacteria have been discovered in
various disease states that are not considered tuberculosis.
Thus, there is no reason to expect all cancer-associated
bacteria to be exactly the same germ.
Furthermore, just as everyone who harbours H. pylori does
not develop stomach ulcers, we should not expect all “cancer
microbes” to produce cancer. Also it is not unreasonable
to consider that cancer microbes have the potential to produce
disease states that are not considered cancer.
For many years I identified cancer microbes in a variety
of disease states. In The Cancer Microbe, I show
photomicrographs of cancer microbes in “autoimmune” diseases
such as scleroderma, in AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma, in
enlarged lymph nodes in AIDS, in breast cancer, in lymphoma
and Hodgkin’s disease, in a lung disease called interstitial
pneumonitis, in sarcoidosis, in an immunoblastic sarcoma
and even in a skin cancer.
Not everyone who becomes infected with TB germs develops
clinical tuberculosis. People can harbour the TB germ without
ever becoming ill. The same is true for cancer microbes.
Not everyone who carries them develops cancer.
According to Virginia Livingston, the microbe is “ubliquitous.”
It is found in various disease states and also can be found
normally. This is a difficult for some medical doctors to
believe because of the idea that an infectious agent must
always infect. Livingston infuriated the scientific establishment
by naming the cancer microbe “Progenitor cryptocides” –
meaning “hidden killer”). She claimed the microbe was present
in every cell. Due to its biochemical peculiarities, the
organism was responsible for initiating life and for healing
of tissue; and was the microbe ultimately responsible for
eventual degeneration and death of all life. Such ideas,
of course, are at odds with medical thought. However, my
own studies have suggested that the cancer microbe is indeed
ubiquitous and indestructible, which is further reason why
it should be taken seriously, particularly in diseases that
are poorly understood, like cancer and “diseases of unknown
etiology.”
Most importantly, cancer microbes are significant because
they can be identified in the cancerous tissue in various
forms of cancer. A few of these microbes can be seen in
“normal” tissue, but strikingly larger numbers can be seen
in the areas of the tumour. These microbes can be identified
in “pre-cancerous” conditions, suggesting that these germs
are present before the actual induction of the cancer. Furthermore,
when cancer is “cured” by radiation and chemotherapy, the
microbe can still be found in the damaged, previously cancerous
areas.
The reason we cannot “cure” cancer is that we cannot stop
the destruction caused by these “hidden” and “unrecognised”
bacterial elements. The reason antibiotics do not work well
in cancer is because the microbes (in the mycoplasmal phase
inside the body) are not susceptible to antibiotics.
In cancer research, there is controversy as to whether cancer
is one disease or many. For instance, could breast cancer
and lung cancer and prostate cancer all be caused by the
same agent. This would be deemed highly improbable, but
if cancer microbes were shown to be associated with all
three forms of cancer, the possibility that all three kinds
of cancer might be related becomes more possible.
When Livingston and colleagues injected cancer microbes
into animals and chickens, some developed cancer, some developed
degenerative and proliferative diseases, and some developed
nothing of note. Apparently the individual “immunity” of
the host was an important factor in terms of what response
the cancer microbe would elicit.
Tuberculosis infection can affect many parts of the body.
Tuberculosis confined to the skin is very different disease
when compared to TB of the lung or of the bone. Yet, all
three manifestations of the disease are linked together
because the TB germ can be found in all three. If cancer
microbes are indeed proven as infectious agents in cancer
– then various forms of cancer may indeed be manifestations
of the same cancer microbe.
There are many “factors” that determine whether a person
will become infected with TB. Obviously, smoking is a big
factor in lung cancer, radiation is a big factor in skin
cancer and leukemia, and so on. However, in defense of the
cancer microbe theory, it would be fair to suggest that
anything that damages tissue would provide a soil for the
possible development of cancer microbe activity in the tissue
that could lead to cancer or the development of degenerative
or proliferative disease.
Finally, is cancer contagious? For a century physicians
have said “no.” But now we know that certain viruses like
HIV can lead to cancer. Certain wart “papilloma” viruses
can be spread sexually and result in cervical cancer. If
further infectious agents, like cancer microbes, are found
in cancerous diseases, we may have to reevaluate the contagiosity
of cancer.
Obviously in this short communication, few people will be
convinced that bacteria cause cancer. For me, it took many
years of study, microscopic observation, and communication
with microbiologists, pathologists, and colleagues, to become
convinced that Livingston and her associates were correct
in their claims of a cancer microbe.
A wealth of knowledge pertaining to the cancer microbe (both
pro and con) can be found on search engines such as www.google.com.
Simply type in “cancer microbe”, “alan cantwell”, “virginia
livingston”, “Eleanor Alexander-Jackson” and other names
mentioned in this communication.
For
a list of scientific publications in medical journals pertaining
to the microbiology of cancer, go to the Pubmed website
(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and type in “Cantwell AR”, “Livingston
VW”, “Alexander-Jackson E”, “Diller IC”, “Seibert FB.”
For serious students of the microbiology of cancer, I would
recommend the following books:
Cantwell,
Alan: The Cancer Microbe (1990), Aries Rising Press,
Los Angeles
Cantwell,
Alan: AIDS: The Mystery and the Solution (1986),
Aries Rising Press
Livingston,
Virginia: Cancer: A New Breakthrough (1972), Livingston
Clinic, San Diego
Livingston,
Virginia: The Microbiology of Cancer (1977), Livingston
Clinic
Hess,
David: Can Bacteria Cause Cancer (1997), NY University
Press
Mattman,
Lida: Cell Wall Deficient Forms; Stealth Pathogens (1993),
CRC Press
Reich,
Wilhelm: The Cancer Biopathy (1973), Farrar, Straus,
& Giroux, New York
