A Front Against Leukemia : The Possible Involvement of Epstein-Barr Virus in The Etiology Of Leukemia

The recognition of the causative agent(s) behind infections has high importance for many reasons: makes it possible to choose the most effective therapy to convalesce the infected organism, eases the decision making for preventive actions to obstruct or reduce the speed of the spreading of the disease. It also helps to develop vaccines and in a long run gives information about the epidemiological behavior of the microbe. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of blood cells, usually leukocytes. The actual cause of Leukemia which is a serious cancer is still under scrutiny. The research studies the etiology of Leukemia. No single known cause for all of the different types of leukemia exists. Controversial hypotheses was proposed suggesting the role of physical as well as chemical and even biological factors as being responsible for Leukemia incidents. In recent years some convincing leads have been obtained on a causal relationship between Epstein- Barr virus (EBV) and a variety of childhood leukemia. We hypothesized that EBV could be involved in the etiology of leukemia.