Infectious Cancer in Clams

According to the National Geographic, clam leukemia is a contagious cancer that is spreading and has evolved with the ability to survive and multiply in fresh hosts. This is interesting to researchers, because most cancers are not contagious. Viruses like HPV are contagious and can cause cancer, but this clam cancer is actually spreading by the cells themselves. The disease is associated with a jumping gene, which is a stretch of DNA that can copy itself and paste itself into a new part of a clam genome. If this is true, this means that the gene could jump to different positions with each new clam. There are a lot of questions that arise with research into this disease, such as where did this originate, how is it spreading, and are other species being affected. This is really intersting, because what if this is transmissible through water, because the clams are filter feeders. I would really like to see more research into this disease, because this could enlighten us on other diseases and maybe this could help learn more about other cancers.