During a recent five-month period, the Journal of the American Medical Association (253:2843) reports, six children in a Texas rural community were affected by a rather rare lymph node cancer, known as Burkitt’s tumor. Usually fatal, this tumor first appears in the neck, jaws or throat of its victims, but later spreads throughout the body.
Similar clustering of Burkitt’s tumor cases, but on a larger scale, has been occurring for many years in Africa, where the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), conveyed by mosquito bites, was discovered to be the cause. In Europe and in the U.S.A., EBV causes the common infectious disease, mononucleosis, and a long-lasting flu-like illness.
There is a plausible theory, however, that Burkitt’s tumor results from the exceptionally heavy infection with EBV that occurs only when someone who is not yet immune to the virus, usually a child, gets bitten by a very large number of carrier mosquitoes at the same time. Several conditions must be met for this to occur including the climate, mosquitoes of the right species to carry EBV, and susceptible children who spend enough time outdoors to be heavily bitten.
One can only speculate that an African type of mosquito is now in Texas. If so, let us hope it does not spread. The moral of this story, therefore, is to use a good repellent and to keep the children indoors when mosquitoes are abundant.
*208\143\2*
