Editorial: No answers found in leukemia probe

Monday, Feb. 10, 2003 | 8:54 a.m.

The unusually high rates of childhood leukemia in Fallon have been devastating to the rural town in Northern Nevada. There have been 16 cases in the area since 1997, and three children have died. But an answer to what caused the mysterious outbreak still isn't known. On Thursday nearly 300 residents of Fallon were told by federal health officials that it can't determine what caused the childhood leukemia cluster. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found unusually high levels of arsenic and tungsten in residents and the drinking water, but the agency hasn't been able to establish a connection to the high rate of childhood leukemia. Nevertheless, we're encouraged that the CDC is asking the National Institutes of Health to start researching arsenic and tungsten as possible carcinogens. The CDC also is recommending that Fallon residents use bot tled water for now.

One of the reasons why the scientists may have had difficulty in establishing a cause for the outbreak is the lag time from when the first case occurred in 1997 to when the CDC started its probe about four years later. The childhood leukemia cases kept accumulating, but there wasn't a uniform registry to track such diseases, meaning that the outbreak was missed initially. It took several years for state public health officials to realize something was wrong in Fallon. That is just one reason why it is so imperative that the United States create a nationwide computer database to track diseases and illnesses, a warning system that could give medical researchers the jump they need to conduct an immediate investigation and help them determine what is causing an outbreak.