Severe COVID or Severe Flu May Raise Risk of Lung Cancer, But Vaccines Helped in Animal Tests

discovermagazine - Learn how severe respiratory illness leaves the lungs vulnerable to cancer, and how vaccines could prevent these vulnerabilities.

AI Summary: New animal and observational evidence suggests severe respiratory infections—including serious COVID‑19 and influenza—can prime lung tissue and accelerate cancer development months to years later. Vaccination appeared to blunt those effects in experimental models, highlighting prevention as a potential cancer‑risk reduction strategy and urging clinicians to watch survivors of severe infections more closely.