Can Hodgkin Lymphoma Be Prevented?
Few of the known risk factors for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) can be changed, so it's not possible to prevent most cases of the disease at this time.
Infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is known to increase risk, so one way to limit your risk is to avoid known risk factors for HIV, such as intravenous (IV) drug use or unprotected sex with many partners. You can read more about this in HIV Infection, AIDS, and Cancer.
Another risk factor for HL is infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (the cause of infectious mononucleosis, or mono), but there's no known way to prevent this infection.
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The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Bartlett NL, Foyil KV. Chapter 105: Hodgkin lymphoma. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Dorshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa. Elsevier: 2014.
Younes A, Carbone A, Johnson P, Dabaja B, Ansell S, Kuruvilla J. Chapter 102: Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In: DeVita VT, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg SA, eds. DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg’s Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 10th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2015.
Last Revised: May 1, 2018
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