Holiday jab could reduce risk of breast cancer cases, experts say

A VACCINE given to thousands of holidaymakers every year to protect against yellow fever could halve the risk of them developing breast cancer, experts have discovered.

Scientists at the University of Padova in Italy found middle-aged women given the jab were 54% less likely to get the disease in the following two years. The results were so positive that researchers have called for major international trials to verify their findings.

It raises the possibility that the vaccine, given to tourists heading to tropical destinations such as Kenya, could be an effective means of preventing cancer cases. Breast cancer affects about 2,600 women a year in Ireland and kills more than 600, striking one in 10 women at some point in their lives.

Scientists searching for ways to prevent tumours turned to the yellow-fever vaccine because studies suggested it could reduce the risk of malignant melanoma – the most dangerous type of skin cancer – by up to 70%.

The vaccine has been in use since the 1930s and has been injected into more than 600 million people worldwide, protecting them against a potentially lethal illness spread by bites from infected mosquitoes.

Dr Jana Witt, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Better studies are needed to investigate whether the yellowfever vaccine can do this.’