nebula Posted May 15, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.95 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Childhood leukaemia linked to mosquito bites 14 May 2011 Magazine issue 2812. 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. The cluster "fizzled out" once all vulnerable children had been infected. "The rural location of most cases suggests mosquitoes as a possible vector," says study author Joe Wiemels of the University of California, San Francisco (Chemico-Biological Interactions, DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2011.02.019). In the UK just 20 cases occurred within 5 kilometres of 13 nuclear power plants between 1969 and 2004 - six fewer cases than at seven "control" sites where nuclear plants were planned but never built. "We should be looking in other places for possible causes," says Alex Elliott of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment, which produced the report. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028123.800-childhood-leukaemia-linked-to-mosquito-bites.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LadyC Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 i know fallon is a long way from here, and my comments really have nothing to do with the article. but in the ten years i have lived in nevada, i've loved the fact that i hardly ever saw any mosquitoes. this year, we have an over-abundance of them, and i find myself swatting skeeters in the house more often than flies. they're eating my grandson up at night. i have no idea why we suddenly have so many. i was talking to a friend at church one day and she commented on the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nebula Posted May 15, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.95 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Have you had more rain this year? Mosquitoes lay eggs in standing water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LadyC Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 nope, not around here, there's really not any standing water that i can see. i'm wondering if there's an abandoned house in the neighborhood with water standing in the pool. but then again, that wouldn't account for the mosquitoes in my friends neighborhood! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nebula Posted May 15, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.95 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Wow - that is quite odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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