N.J. Vianna

NON-OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS AND MALIGNANT MESOTHELIOMA IN FEMALES

A study of the occupational histories of 52 females with malignant mesothelioma and certain of their relatives, carried out to measure the risk of this disorder attributable to indirect asbestos exposure, showed that a significantly greater number of husbands and fathers of cases than of controls worked in asbestos-related industries, and the relative risk for this factor was 10. The frequency of parental cancer, especially gastrointestinal malignancy, was also significantly greater for cases than for their controls. This raises the possibility of a genetic predisposition to malignant mesothelioma.

LYMPHOMAS AND OCCUPATIONAL BENZENE EXPOSURE

There was a significant excess of deaths caused by major lymphomas in men employed in occupations where benzene and/or coal tar fractions are used. The increase in risk was limited to those who were 45 years of age and older at death, an observation which is consistent with the possibility that chronic exposure might be important. Evidence from other studies suggests that benzene may adversely affect the immunological system.

Extended epidemic of Hodgkin's disease in high-school students.

Abstract Four students in a high school de Summary veloped Hodgkins disease. Inquiry amongst relatives and friends demonstrated an interrelationship of nine cases of Hodgkins disease in more than two decades. The outbreak suggested an infective disease condition with a carrier state and a long incubation period.

TONSILLECTOMY AND HODGKIN'S DISEASE: THE LYMPHOID TISSUE BARRIER

Abstract Tonsillectomy increases the liability to the subsequent development of Hodgkins disease by a factor of 2.9 times. Since appendicectomy has previously been shown to increase the liability to subsequent Hodgkins disease, it seems that surgical ablation of active lymphoid tissue, and perhaps the natural involution in late childhood of the oropharyngeal lymphoid tissue, in some way facilitate the onset of Hodgkins disease. A protective barrier is removed.

FAMILIAL HODGKIN'S DISEASE: AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND GENETIC DISORDER

Abstract Evaluation of cases of familial Hodgkins disease among first-degree blood-relations suggests that the time-intervals between diagnoses are shorter than the age differences between family members. This and the observation that the time-intervals between diagnoses for relatives living in the same household were shorter than for those living apart are consistent with an environmental aetiology. However, since many familial pairs had the same Rye subtypes at diagnosis, regardless of their relationship or proximity, host reactivity may possibly be related to genetic factors.

NATURE OF HODGKIN'S DISEASE AGENT

Abstract It is suggested that Hodgkins disease is due to a virus of low virulence and infectivity which enters via the oral-respiratory tract portal and which is barrier-held by intact, non-involuted lymphoid tissue; that immune-complex material escapes to the lymph-nodes and evokes the distinctive reaction; and that the failure to detect an agent in the nodal lesions may be due to the fact that the agent itself does not get to the lymph-nodes. The habitat of the virus may be the female genital tract.

HODGKIN'S DISEASE MORTALITY AMONG PHYSICIANS

Abstract The possibility that the physicians might represent a high-risk group for Hodgkins disease was investigated by surveying all teaching hospitals in Upstate New York for deaths due to this disease from 1960 through 1972. The physician-mortality rate observed was statistically significantly higher than those for dentists, general population, and high socio-economic control groups with the same age and sex distribution. The relative risk for physicians was 1·8.