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Herpes Linked to Brain Cancer

Surgeon's hunch launches vaccine trials

By Ambreen Ali,  Newser User

Posted Oct 6, 2008 7:40 AM CDT

(Newser) – Cancer researchers are finally taking seriously a young surgeon’s decade-long hunch that brain tumors are linked to a strain of herpes that lies dormant in 80% of Americans. The physician speculated that brain cancer patients—many of them affluent and educated—were more vulnerable to common viruses such as the herpes CMV strain because of their "hyper-hygienic" lives, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

"I stopped to think, If I was going to cause a brain tumor, what would I be? CMV made a lot of sense,” he said. The link has now been confirmed in at least three new studies, and CMV vaccine trials have begun for chemo patients. Several of them are tumor-free after two years, rare for a cancer that returns within months of treatment in 95% of cases.

Ted Kennedy, who was operated on at Duke University, has not confirmed if he is one of the patients in the CMV vaccine trial.
Ted Kennedy, who was operated on at Duke University, has not confirmed if he is one of the patients in the CMV vaccine trial.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The type of brain cancer linked to a herpes strain grows back after chemotherapy for 95% of patients.
The type of brain cancer linked to a herpes strain grows back after chemotherapy for 95% of patients.   (AP Photo/Adele Starr, FILE)
Researchers at Duke University have started a trial to see if CMV treatment can prevent the regrowth of brain tumors.
Researchers at Duke University have started a trial to see if CMV treatment can prevent the regrowth of brain tumors.   (AP Photo/Jim R .Bounds)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
chloe10232
May 4, 2010 3:25 PM CDT
I found an article on how to get rid of them for life on A Herpes support site ==== STDmatching , com =====

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