Bacterial bloodstream infections may signal colon cancer, according to a study that found people with the infections are 14 times more likely to be diagnosed with the malignancy a year later than the general population. The cancer risk varied by type of bacteria, and patients who had germs that didn’t require oxygen to grow -- such as those that inhabit the colon -- faced a 115 times greater chance of cancer diagnosis, the research showed. The study by Canadian researchers was presented today at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Chicago.
