Cancer clusters

摘要

BITES from mosquitoes carrying unidentified viruses might explain childhood leukaemia clusters around the town of Fallon in Nevada. And last week, a separate UK report found no link between nuclear power plants and childhood leukaemia. The Nevada cluster is the largest in the US. Previous research failed to find a link between the cases and carcinogenic chemicals. The new study of the 14 Fallon cases that arose between 1997 and 2003 - a rate 12 times higher than normally expected in such a period - concludes that military personnel may have brought a virus to the area, which was then spread by mosquitoes.