Word: viruses
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...lifetime had a nearly ninefold increased risk of developing cancer of the tonsils or at the base of the tongue. Of the 300 study participants, those infected with HPV were also 32 times more likely to develop this type of oral cancer than those who did not have the virus. These findings dwarf the increased risk of developing this so-called oropharyngeal cancer associated with the two major risk factors: smoking (3 times greater) or drinking (2.5 times greater). HPV infection drives cancerous growth, as it is widely understood to do in the cervix. But unlike cervical cancer, this type...
...cases of oropharyngeal cancer are diagnosed each year, and about 3,000 people die from it. "It is a significant health issue," says Dr. Robert Haddad, clinical director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Haddad says that public awareness of the HPV virus needs to be just like that of HIV because the virus causes multiple types of cancer...
...Gardasil and some vaccines in clinical trial are preventative, but drug companies such as MGI Pharma are studying therapeutic vaccines to treat those already infected with the virus. "We need to come up with better vaccines - and we need to study them in men," says Haddad. Gardasil has not been tested against oral HPV, but Dr. Douglas Lowy, laboratory chief at the National Cancer Institute, says that there is every reason to think that, in principle, "the vaccine should be able to have an impact on oral cancers attributable to HPV." Lowy says that the next studies might start with...
...That doesn't mean the fight is meaningless. International experts need to have samples in lab to fully analyze the behavior and genetic structure of the bird flu virus, looking for the all-important mutation that might mean H5N1 is ready to go pandemic. (Currently H5N1 only rarely infects human beings, but flu viruses change constantly - hence the need for up-to-date analysis.) Since Indonesia is where most new human bird flu cases have been occurring - as one Jakarta official acknowledged with a twist of pride, "We do have the most deadly virus" - scientists need to see Indonesian samples...
...sharing. One international health expert based in the region notes that Jakarta hasn't been shy about asking for international help in controlling the disease in chickens, claiming that bird flu had originated outside its borders. "But when it comes to sharing samples, they take the position that the virus belongs to them," the expert said. "It's somewhat contradictory...