The relationship between a bacterial toxin and colorectal cancer in young patients

Exposure to a bacterial toxin called colibactin could be triggering an increase in colorectal cancer in young people.

Colibactin can alter DNA, and in an analysis of hundreds of cases, scientists at UC San Diego found it was three times more common for patients under 40 than in those diagnosed after age 70.

The scientists believe the damage may happen within the first 10 years of life, but they don’t yet know how children are being exposed or how to stop it.