 Much to keep it wide to fife. My name is Ram Agukko. If you're just joining us. You're just in time for the very next conversation of the day. It's all about cancer awareness. This particular conversation is something that comes at a very good time because as a nation we need to remind ourselves. We need to be aware about the signs and symptoms of cancer. What are some of the myths and misconceptions in regards to this particular disease? Do we have, you know, any vaccine or any cure or any form of treatment that exists in regards to cancer? Sending your questions on this particular issue. The hashtag is why in the morning at Ram Aguko. And I'm Michelle Ashira also at Y254. Ensure that you can engage with us. We shall be sampling your feedback a bit later on as we proceed with this conversation. To help us understand more on cancer, I'm joined by Dr. Catherine Yungesa. She is oncologist Kadupsana. Yes, we're here to demystify cancer. We've heard people say that ukiweka chakula kwa microwave. It can give you cancer. Is it true? Is that true? No. Today we want to find out about this particular issue. So engage with us. Let's look at the numbers. Now in Kenya according to the statistics, Kenya is having cancer as the third leading cause of death after infectious and cardiovascular diseases. Now from the year 2012 to the year 2018, the annual incidence of cancer increased from 37,000 to 47,887 new cases. Now during the same period according to statistics, the annual cancer mortality rose to up to 16%. Now we are talking about from 28,500 to 32,987 cancer-related deaths. It means we are talking about an increase in terms of statistics. What about 2021? How are we doing in this particular year? Well, let's engage in this particular conversation. Dr. Catherine. Yes. Why is it that we are seeing this increase in number of cancer-related issues? Let's start from there. Okay, so there are multiple factors. Number one is we are also adopting the western lifestyle in terms of using a lot of fat in our diet, industrial pollution, and then use of tobacco, alcohol, and then the issue of the increase in population. The increase in population has an effect. As we have more people, we know cancer when it occurs in a population is like by chance. So when you have two people, the chance of them getting cancer may just be like almost zero. But if you have five people, you find that the chance is higher because you have more numbers. So as our population grows, then the chances are higher. So we are getting more people affected by cancer. And then the aging population. People are living quite long. And as we grow older, we get exposed to some of the cancer-causing agents in the environment, and the likelihood of getting cancer is also going to rise. What are some of these agents that are cancer-causing that exist in the environment? Let's pick up from there because right now we are talking about a pandemic. So things moving in the air are a lot of conversations about viruses being transferred from one person to another through the air. What are some of these issues that are cancer-causing agents that are airborne? Unfortunately, majority of them we don't know. But there are a few risk factors. For example, there are cancer-causing viruses in the environment which can be transmitted from one person to another. For example, human papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer and penile cancer and bowel cancer. We have the ebstain bar virus. It comes like a flu. It causes buckets lymphoma. This is a cancer of the denodes. The denodes. We call it buckets lymphoma. So you can have a tumor growing in the jaw. We have another virus causing liver cancer. We call it hepatitis B virus. HIV-related cancers are also there. So that is just on the infection side. Then we look at pollution, environmental pollution. We have a lot of industries that are coming up. They are meeting chemicals. So with the time those chemicals may settle in our body. We also... We have a lot of infrastructure development industries coming up. We are looking into technological advancements. So it has a ripple effect. They say every time everything we do for pleasure can actually... It is good and sometimes it can put us at risk of cancer. Just going out to sit in the sun for a long time. It's good and it's also bad. Sitting in the sun can be bad? Yes. Especially when the sun is very hot. Something? You can actually get skin cancer. So we expect that when you think you're going to be in the sun for a long time just wear a hat or put sunscreen. Alright. We will come into... We will delve more into that. But now let me look at still in terms of the numbers. Some researchers have this belief that over half of all cancer cases and up to half of all cancer deaths are preventable. Is this true in your case? In your opinion, is this a fact that you also subscribe to and is cancer preventable? So there are some risks that you can modify. So that you don't get cancer. For example, use of alcohol in tobacco, excessive use. You know it will expose you to cancer. The chances are very high if you smoke. You increase your chance of getting cancer. Yes, very high. For liver you can go for vaccination because we've said that probably in infection by hepatitis B virus can bring liver cancer. So if you are immunized against that it is protective. Cervical cancer we are talking of human papilloma virus that causes it. So the government is encouraging that young girls go for HPV vaccination before they become sexually active. So that protects them in future. They already build immunity. So when they are sexually active and they get this virus they already have protection. Is there any particular age that we are looking into for the girls? The best age is 9 to about 14 years. But the government has put at 10 years. So that's the age group that we are able to vaccinate. Do you know that you are supposed to get vaccinated as a lady? As a parent is your daughter vaccinated? Yes, so they can visit the county hospitals and inquire if the vaccine is available. Those girls can be vaccinated. Is there a cost towards that? When it was rolled out it was meant to be free for primary school kids. But if you are over 10 or you are a young lady and you want to be vaccinated you will go for screening. You will be checked if you don't have the virus. You can still get the vaccination but you pay. Wonderful. Let's look at the signs and symptoms of cancer. What should people be looking out for? How does it start? Most of the time it has very vague symptoms. They actually look like anemic infection symptoms. You may be having it but you don't know. You just feel tired. Sometimes you are losing weight. You are sweating. The symptoms also depend on where the cancer is. It could be arriving from the breast. It will have their own symptoms. It will have their own liver. Different types of cancer come with different symptoms. But the general ones are weight loss. Having a lump that doesn't go away you may feel pain at that site where the cancer is. You may have even a wound. It's an unusual wound or an ulcer in that area. Ulcers or wounds can bleed. They may be painful. So even these stomach ulcers that people normally have that are acid influxes they can also have an effect or they are correlated with cancer? Okay. Yes, maybe no but the important thing is that if you have stomach ulcers when you get treated by medicine it goes away. But the symptoms of stomach cancer are similar to ulcers. So if you are going to hospital in and out being treated for ulcers it will be good to have an endoscopy to check if there is any cancerous ulcer. Because you may just have non-cancerous ulcers. It is at this juncture that we would like you to ensure that you send us any questions in regards to these Dr. Catherine is here to answer all those questions as we proceed. On Facebook we are at Y254 make sure that you drop in your comment at the comment section on Twitter at Y254 channel at Ramagukwa Michelle Ashera the hashtag is one in the morning in regards to cancer Dr. Catherine is here to help us to demystify some of these issues. So different signs and symptoms depend on the type of cancer that you have because of time you cannot dwell deeper in regards to that but let's look at the myths and misconceptions of cancer. You started earlier by talking about sunbathing and some of that it has an effect. You mentioned earlier that we are getting accustomed to the western culture. So let's delve there. What are some of these kinds of misconceptions and myths that exist? Some people think that cancer is just for other people it may not occur it may not affect them but we are all in it we can get cancer. The other thing they fear is that when you have cancer you are going to die but the truth is that we all die at one point or another but when you have cancer they still hope that if you get treatment you still lead a normal life. It does not mean that once someone tells you once you go to the doctor's office and they tell you that you've got cancer it is not a death sentence. No, no, it's not a death sentence. It's not a death sentence. We have a lot of survivors who have been treated for cancer and they are doing very well. Another misconception is that when you have cancer you should not go for any testing like taking a biopsy, any cutting of any sort removing the growth but if cancer is touched you are going to die or it will spread. That is just a myth because for us even to confirm cancer we need to do a medical test and it will involve taking a sample. If the cancer is early stage you may need to go for surgery to remove it and it's curable. So once it's cut off it's a done deal. Yes, so the myth is the misconception is that don't go for it, it should not be touched that is a wrong message. So once it's cut off there are times when patients come like they have breast cancer you have a lump in the breast or anywhere in the body then they go taking hubs and somebody tells them that when it bursts it means your cancer is a talker coming out. Actually that one is delaying treatment and when you find that cancer is bursting through the skin to form a wound it's already advancing. It's making it worse. It actually is already in advance stage so let nobody lie to you that don't go for treatment, take these hubs so for the cancer to come out. Do these hubs also make things worse? They delay treatment they delay the patient seeking actually the conventional treatment. So based on your information because many people go for home remedies they say let's take this mix it with this squash this pour water on this, apply here drink here run here go there see this particular herbal doctor would you encourage such activities? No I am for conventional medicine but there are some common infections or some viral infections which have no specific treatment and most of the time those ones you can do even lemon those simple things at home but when you see that two weeks are going and there is really no improvement you need to seek professional advice don't just take concussions which have not been researched and if someone has concussions or hubs and they think this works wonders then let them bring them out to a research facility like a kambri they research on it and if it's found to help patients definitely will adopt but for now I would encourage that everyone tries to get treatment by evidence to best cases instead of just taking those that have not been researched so as we speak there are no home remedies that help in curing or preventing cancer? no so what you are going to do is do it do it when you are at home but when you are at home do it when you are at home do it when you are at home those are all nutritious things they are important for our body to treat cancer to misema turning let's talk about turning does it have an effect on the body and is it cancerous let's touch on that also you mentioned it earlier if you have to be in the sun between 10am up to 4pm because we expect that's the time when the sun is very hot you should wear either hat or use sunscreen on your body you are just going to go out in turning otherwise even sit under the shed or when you are walking then walk at least through exposed air and a shed when the villagers walk along trees they provide very good so staying or walking for long under the sun can have an adverse effect on your skin because the skin is dark, it has melanin pigment but over exposure to sun it breaks that and can cause cancer is there a particular time that someone should go outside and just sunbathe and a particular time but should not what is the best time the best time is in the morning and in the evening after 4pm when the sun is less hot but if you have to go in between it is ok but make sure you wear sunscreen and then we see people who are more vulnerable to the albinos unfortunately they don't have that dark pigment and those ones if you have a child that's a special child you should make sure you support them by applying sunscreen all the time and let them have hearts so that they are protected from that and some people say that you are Kurega, my friend you protect yourself you have known that golfers may not have golfers but they have by the way they have hearts I thought it was just to be classy it's not style even if it's a lady say to me you protect yourself let's talk about food and the microwave issue some say that when you pass near microwave when it is still on it vibrates it has some cancerous effect others say that putting food in a microwave has an adverse effect on your body if you keep doing it every single day what are the facts here so microwaves are actually some of the very safe rays out of what we call the electromagnetic spectrum so microwaves are closer to light for example we use microwaves those waves we use it for transmitting sound like in radio our phones use microwaves so that range of the electromagnetic radiation it is non-nan ionizing so it doesn't cause cancer so you can warm your food in the microwave and eat it, there's no problem we have another spectrum of what you call ionizing radiation and these are like X-rays like when you go for X-ray if it is exposed to radiation then that one can cause cancer are you saying that for someone who you are being diagnosed of something totally different and they send a recommendation that if you go for an X-ray too much of that can cause cancer too much X-rays, too much CT scans those ones or excessive exposure to radiation we had the tsunami the Nagasaki bombing yes yes yes Hiroshima Nagasaki so those ones there's a lot of it is a nuclear accident that's why the UN is trying to protect that people are not exposed to those nuclear accidents so how much is too much in regards to exposure to these X-rays and CT scans after what number of these particular scans should you stop as an individual? ok the doctor will advise they don't do scans and X-rays just for fun usually the benefits outweigh the risk maybe the doctor wants to diagnose something that is ailing you they'll have to do the scan but they generally will moderate they won't just take you for unnecessary scans in fact when we go back to history when the radiation was just being discovered by some physicists at that time it was very fashionable in fact the guy who started it he's a physicist called Drunken he took the wife's X-ray of the hand and it showed the ring so every time he could show that X-ray to people it was like wow what is this then suddenly it was kind of romantic in a way I can imagine how the wife felt she felt good so then suddenly it was fashionable everybody you have ringworms go for X-ray radiation you have some arthritis people used to go then they realized this thing is harmful because now people started having those complications of exposure to radiation so there's no safe radiation exposure you have to see a medical doctor to advise you when it's safe to do the X-rays and how many and they will only do it for a purpose not for fashion okay let's look at other myths and misconceptions this device the phone I'm sure you've heard of some of these they say let me give just a few examples putting your phone on the charger and then it lies next to you in the pillow as you sleep that that radiation can cause cancer another example some say that while your phone is charging and you pick up a call that it has some cancerous effects on you when charging so they say that you should remove it from the charger while another misconception another issue that is being raised is when you use your phone a lot during the day that you keep on picking your phone and you put it next to your ear that it has some radiation that affects you so I've heard some people say that always put your phone on loudspeaker to avoid those radiation is it cancerous? for now there are a lot of myths but we don't have evidence to suggest that phones are cancerous and as I said the type of waves we are using they are in the low energy range and the microwave the microwave technology so it is not harmful it is not harmful as I speak but really you really don't want to picking your phone when it's on a charge you can pull that it's electricity so you can pull that you can cut and then it shocks you because then I wouldn't really encourage but it is safe to use phones for now it is still safe but things change we cannot say never if evidence comes out in future that actually these things are harmful then we will change the way we do things now one other issue that I want us to clarify and clear the air is cancer contagious? cancer is a non-communicable disease so it is not contagious but there are cancer-causing viruses which can be transmitted from one person to another like human papillomavirus through sexual intercourse then it stays in your body for some time then it can transform the cervix like for women it cause cancer it can transform the perinolaria for women and men and they get cancer hepatitis is also it can be transmitted between humans HIV can be transmitted between humans so those are cancer-causing viruses but the cancer itself is not communicable for example so if you smoke as a parent maybe you are a husband you smoke in the house and your wife gets those fumes then she is also a passive smoker or a second hand smoker so she will get cancer because of your behavior of smoking so you are smoking can affect your wife and children technically your whole family the whole family will be smoking if you smoke in the house don't think it's only you everyone is smoking nowadays it has been an issue that people believed that cancer was mostly for people of a certain age and above but nowadays you are seeing even children there a reason for such kind of an current cancer can affect any age group young and old we see it in children because of genetic issues maybe there is a familial gene that is transmitted and can cause cancer we see it in adults as we said those causative agents we use alcohol and exposure to other cancer causing agents in the environment the thing is I would say 30 to 60% of the cancer no one really knows why it comes it is accidental so let's not blame each other why getting cancer it is by chance I would like to give you 30 seconds to have a final word to talk to Kenyans in terms of cancer awareness just what will be your what should be our take home for the day so this month being July it's the born cancer and sarcoma awareness month and we'll be looking at born cancers primary and secondary so you see person with growth on the bone cancer can affect bone usually it weakens the bone so some eggs in the bone or swellings don't ignore them have a check up by the doctor and the color for the bone cancer and sarcoma awareness month is yellow so anything just when you see anything yellow go online and read about born cancer and sarcomas and how can we detect them early and get treatment and cancer is not a death sentence there is always hope there is hope so this month let's paint the country yellow yellow doka kathrin thank you I was with doka kathrin young guys are oncologists finding out the myths and misconceptions she has done a wonderful job we have a page with us on our social media platforms as always it's a wrap that was us to the end of this show today I believe that you've had a fantastic time from the time you started on behalf of everyone that ensured this show was a success to thank the producers the directors and michel want to wish you a blessed day may God bless you stay safe Good bye.