"Measles or Flu in Infancy Linked to Higher Risk of Brain Cancer"

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Funny how the flu and measles have been around forever, but brain tumors among children have only relatively recently been dramatically rising. - SM

 

September 18, 2002

 

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

 

"Measles or Flu in Infancy Linked to Higher Risk of Brain Cancer" London Independent (www.independent.co.uk) (09/18/02) P. 6; Laurence, Jeremy

 

Concluding a study of 100,000 children born in Cumbria between 1975 and 1992, researchers from the University Newcastle determined that exposure to influenza tripled the risk of those infants to brain and spinal tumors, while exposure to measles doubled their risk.  Professor Louis Parker and colleagues published their findings in the British Journal of Cancer, showing that babies were only at increased risk if exposure to flu or measles occurred during the first three months of life, but before or after that, exposure had no effect.  Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, concluded that the only way to protect children from this brain cancer was to approach measles as a public health issue and to eradicate it from the population rather than each individual child - especially since children are not vaccinated until they are between 12 months and 15 months old.  Eradication of influenza, on the other hand, is nearly impossible, as it mutates annually, requiring vaccination every year.

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