Disease

Zimbabwe typhoid outbreak

The Zimbabwean health ministry says at least 10 people have died and more than 1,800 have been infected with typhoid fever since the outbreak began in October last year, according to an Eyewitness News report Thursday. Just in the past week, 86 cases have been documented, including one fatality.

Chernobyl Radiation Possible Cause of Rare Cancer

When 10 people in New York City developed a very rare form of eye cancer over just a 4-year period, doctors were puzzled. The cancer, called vitreoretinal lymphoma, had been diagnosed in the U.S. only a handful of times over the previous 20 years.

It was interesting that six of the 10 patients had lived near Chernobyl at the time of the disaster. Four of the patients had lived in Ukraine, one patient had lived in Poland and one patient had lived in the country of Moldova, according to the case report.

The Chernobyl disaster is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history: On April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the plant in Ukraine, leaking massive amounts of cancer-causing radiation into the atmosphere.

Based on data from the New York State Cancer Registry, it was found that statistically, there should be only one case of vitreoretinal lymphoma in New York state in a 4-year period. So to find 10 cases in New York City alone in that same time period was certainly "unanticipated," and represented a cluster.