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Anglers had been reporting black skin patches among catfish in Vermont lake. Now scientists have found it's a contagious cancer affecting 30% of their population
The Times of India • • health
Key Points:
- Scientists in Vermont have discovered a fourth naturally occurring transmissible cancer in catfish, where skin cancer cells spread from one fish to another, similar to known cases in Tasmanian devils, dogs, and shellfish.
- The cancer manifests as black skin lesions on brown bullhead catfish in Lake Memphremagog and other New England and Canadian lakes, with nearly one in three fish affected by 2014.
- Whole-genome sequencing revealed that the cancer cells are genetically similar across different fish, indicating that tumor cells act as infectious agents, potentially spreading through close contact during spawning or via sediment.
- While the ecological impact on catfish populations remains uncertain, the disease poses no known risk to humans, and researchers are investigating its distribution across other water bodies in the region.
- Unlike animals with transmissible cancers, humans do not have naturally occurring cancers that spread independently between individuals, with only rare, isolated cases of cancer cell transfer documented.
