DISEASE Evidence grows for cancer virus

British scientists have found more evidence that a virus could cause certain types of cancer, it is reported today. A Cambridge University team said cases of acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL), the biggest cause of leukaemia in children, clustered during the summer months in their study of 4,200 people.

"Whatever is causing this cancer is also seasonal," said Padmanabhan Badrinath, who worked on the study. "We think the potential candidate is a viral infection."

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that ALL was 40 per cent more likely to be diagnosed between May and October than in other months.

ALL affects one in 100,000 children. Victims are lethargic and feverish, pale, irritable and have joint and bone pain. They are anaemic and their immune systems are damaged.

A few cases seem to have genetic factors and there was a six-fold increase in leukaemia, mostly ALL, in Japanese children exposed to radiation from atomic bombs in the Second World War.

Several studies have shown a small increase in ALL among children living near power plants or nuclear reprocessing plants.