Another leukemia case hits Fallon

Tuesday, May 8, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

A teenage girl has been diagnosed with the 14th case of childhood leukemia linked to Fallon since 1998.

The military and farming town 60 miles east of Reno has attracted national attention, including congressional hearings, because of the cluster of cancers.

There is no common link among the victims, except they all lived in Fallon for some part of their lives.

The latest case, however, is a different type of leukemia: acute myelogenous leukemia, known as AML. The 13 previous cases were acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, the most common form of childhood leukemia.

ALL destroys bone marrow, and while AML causes similar damage, the disease attacks different white blood cells. AML is a less common type of leukemia in children.

The expected rate of ALL cases would be one per year in every 100,000 people. Churchill County, including Fallon, has 25,000 residents.

The newest case of leukemia will not change the Nevada Health Division's approach to its ongoing investigation into the cause of the leukemia cluster, health officials Dr. Mary Guinan and state epidemiologist Randall Todd said in a statement.

The state began working in April with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, along with Nevada's congressional delegation.

While it normally takes up to a year to develop plans and review them for an investigation into a disease cluster such as Fallon's, the CDC has set a goal of July or August to have a plan ready.

Both federal agencies have visited Churchill County and are interviewing affected families. Air, soil and water samples are being collected and tissue samples are planned.

The causes of most childhood leukemia clusters nationwide are never found, officials said.

Last week Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, owner of a 63-mile jet fuel pipeline, inspected for damage and for clues to fuel smells in Fallon. The company said there was no evidence of leaks in the 44-year-old pipeline, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The newspaper had previously reported damage to surface pipes and testing stations, but those were minor problems that do not affect public health and safety, the company said.