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Exposure to poultry oncogenic viruses and the risks of deaths from liver and pancreatic cancer
Exposure to poultry oncogenic viruses and the risks of deaths from liver and pancreatic cancer
Felini et al (2011) Annals of Epidemiology 21:755-766
6 January, 2012
Certain viruses naturally infect and cause cancer in chickens and turkeys. They include the avian leukosis/sarcoma viruses (ALSV), reticuloendotheliosis viruses, and Marek?s disease virus. Some of these viruses are among the most potent cancer-causing agents known in animals. Humans are widely exposed to these viruses from contact with live poultry and their raw products including eggs; from ingestion of raw or inadequately cooked products; or through vaccination with vaccines grown in eggs, such as measles, mumps, influenza, yellow fever, and typhus vaccines. It has been shown that exogenous ALSV contaminated yellow fever vaccines caused malignant tumors when injected into chickens. Some but not all studies have reported the presence of antibodies to these viruses in the sera of poultry workers and subjects in the general population.
The study by Felini et al published lately in the Annals of Epidemiology was to test the hypothesis that exposure to poultry oncogenic viruses that widely occurs occupationally in poultry workers and in the general population, may be associated with increased risks of deaths from liver and pancreatic cancers, and to identify new risk factors. The source population for this case-cohort study consisted of 30,411 poultry workers and 16'408 non-poultry workers.
Findings: Slaughtering of chickens at work and catching live chickens at work were significantly associated with pancreatic cancer. Slaughtering of chickens at work was significantly associated with liver cancer.
Credits: ProMed
Felini et al (2011) Annals of Epidemiology 21:755-766
6 January, 2012
Certain viruses naturally infect and cause cancer in chickens and turkeys. They include the avian leukosis/sarcoma viruses (ALSV), reticuloendotheliosis viruses, and Marek?s disease virus. Some of these viruses are among the most potent cancer-causing agents known in animals. Humans are widely exposed to these viruses from contact with live poultry and their raw products including eggs; from ingestion of raw or inadequately cooked products; or through vaccination with vaccines grown in eggs, such as measles, mumps, influenza, yellow fever, and typhus vaccines. It has been shown that exogenous ALSV contaminated yellow fever vaccines caused malignant tumors when injected into chickens. Some but not all studies have reported the presence of antibodies to these viruses in the sera of poultry workers and subjects in the general population.
The study by Felini et al published lately in the Annals of Epidemiology was to test the hypothesis that exposure to poultry oncogenic viruses that widely occurs occupationally in poultry workers and in the general population, may be associated with increased risks of deaths from liver and pancreatic cancers, and to identify new risk factors. The source population for this case-cohort study consisted of 30,411 poultry workers and 16'408 non-poultry workers.
Findings: Slaughtering of chickens at work and catching live chickens at work were significantly associated with pancreatic cancer. Slaughtering of chickens at work was significantly associated with liver cancer.
Credits: ProMed