Word: epsteins
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...that caused cancer. Poring over medical books in local libraries, they found no reference to a viral cause of non- Hodgkin's lymphoma. Instead, they came upon another cancer of immune-system cells, Burkitt's lymphoma, which afflicts black African children and is strongly associated with infection by the Epstein-Barr virus. Even though the stricken family is white, says the Georgia victim, "it was the only viral- caused cancer that we could find. Because of that and because of where our visitor came from, we started making the connection...
...researchers found that the aunt had become ill just before she left Africa and that blood samples from four of the twelve Americans she visited showed signs of recent Epstein-Barr virus infection. Genetic causes were ruled out because not all the victims were blood relations. Says Grufferman: "This is one of the best-documented cancer clusters worldwide, but it's difficult to investigate...
...difficulties is the mixed signal provided by the viral evidence. Signs of Epstein-Barr infection were found in one family member with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma but were absent in two of the other cancer victims (the fourth died before testing was done). Was some other virus, still undiscovered, responsible for the familial outbreak...
...members of the troublesome herpes family. Herpes zoster, which causes chicken pox, sometimes hides in nerve cells, where no drug or antibody can reach it. Years after the pox attack, usually in middle or old age, zoster can sneak out and cause excruciating attacks of shingles. The Epstein-Barr virus, a herpes family member that causes infectious mononucleosis, follows a similar strategy, though its hiding place is not in the nerves but in the B cells, the very cells that make antibodies to viruses. In contrast to the dormant staying power of herpes viruses, the persistent hepatitis B virus...
...University of California, San Francisco, found a striking connection between chronic hepatitis B infection and liver cancer, a leading killer in the Third World. "Someone infected with hepatitis B has 100 times the normal risk of developing liver cancer," says Beasley, "and that's being conservative." The Epstein-Barr virus has been associated with a couple of types of cancer. In Central Africa and New Guinea, it has been linked to Burkitt's lymphoma, an immune-cell cancer that primarily strikes children. In southern China, the virus plays a role in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a malignancy of the nose and throat...