Medicine: Children, Virus & Cancer

Now that traditional infectious diseases of children are so well controlled, one of the commonest causes of death among U.S. children is acute leukemia. It appears most often between the ages of two and five, and it accounts for about a third of all childhood cancers. Though it affects cells of the lymphatic system, it rarely causes solid tumors and is regarded as a "cancer of the blood." What connection can this possibly have with a hideously deforming and quick-killing cancer of the jaw that afflicts African children? Researchers now think they know. The African disease offers the best chance to...

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