The New England Journal of Medicine had an article on The Parasitic Origin of Cancer (nejm.org) in 1891. That means they were aware of cancer back then. Maybe we have always had it, we just gave it a name in the 1800’s. We’ve had parasites since the beginnings of life, so the cancer causing ones have probably been around for a long time.
The New England Journal of Medicine had an article on [The Parasitic Origin of Cancer](https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM189101151240301) in 1891. That means they were aware of cancer back then. Maybe we have always had it, we just gave it a name in the 1800’s. We’ve had parasites since the beginnings of life, so the cancer causing ones have probably been around for a long time.
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