rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
My job is a data analyst, working on genetic cancer research. Now sadly, I don’t have a direct answer to your question, but I do know a few things about cancer.
For the most part, cancer is not contagious. There is an exception, and it’s a sexually transmitted cancer for dogs known as CTVS. Some poor dog developed cancer 11,000 years ago, and the cancer cells mutated enough that they became essentially an asexual, single-celled organism. I point this out as a factor as to why it’s not contagious for almost all cancers: and that’s because cancer cells need their host. The danger from cancer is caused by mutant cells that have lost their apoptosis signal and begin reproducing uncontrollably, not that we have a bunch of invincible cells floating in our body.
Some cancers like lung cancer develop as tumors, while others like leukemia are circulating. Lung cancer probably won’t aerosolize, but even if it did, the cells need to survive for long enough to reach a new host. To reach a new host circulating cancers like Leukemia would need to be ingested and then survive the digestive system.