Every year, cancer claims the lives of more than half a million Americans. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. According to United States Cancer Statistics: 2005 Incidence and Mortality, which tracks cancer incidence for about 96% of the U.S. population and mortality for the entire country, more than 559,000 Americans died of cancer, and more than 1.34 million had a diagnosis of cancer in 2005. The financial costs of cancer are overwhelming. According to the National Institutes of Health, cancer cost the United States an estimated $228 billion in medical costs in 2008.

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Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection