A bout of the common bladder infection, cystitis, may signal the presence of urogenital cancers-which affect parts of the body involved in reproduction and excretion-in middle aged adults, suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health. The risks seem to be especially high within 3 months of infection, suggesting that acute cystitis might be a useful clinical marker for urogenital cancer, say the researchers. For gynaecological cancers, the SIRs within 3 months of infection were between 4 and 8 times higher among women who had had cystitis. And the researchers acknowledge that they lacked microbiological confirmation of cystitis infection or information on potentially influential factors, such smoking and underlying conditions, including obesity and undiagnosed diabetes. But they say: “The present study adds to the accumulating evidence of infections as markers of increased cancer risk.