Aetiology of childhood leukemia.

Childhood infectious diseases and risk of leukaemia in an adult population

“…In this respect, it has been noted that the observed 4.5% annual increase in mortality due to leukaemia in children and young adults in England and Wales between 1911 and 1959 occurred at a time when bovine tuberculosis control measures commenced and before BCG vaccination was widespread. 4 A relationship between a history of certain infections and vaccinations is not restricted to leukaemia and in a previous letter to this journal, 5 we summarized the studies undertaken by the Febrile Infections and Melanoma working group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer which showed that vaccination with BCG and vaccinia early in life and the 17D yellow fever vaccine later in life conferred a significant degree of protection against melanoma in adult life.…”

Vaccination Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Leukaemia and Melanoma

“…Between 1911 and 1959 the UK saw the incidence of this disease rising by 4.5% a year, and this was a time when young children were becoming much less at risk of infection by milk-borne M. bovis, firstly as a result of pasteurization of milk and subsequently by removal of reactor cattle. 14 Clearly, many other socioeconomic changes could, as suggested by Greaves, have led to alterations in immune maturation accounting for the increase in the incidence of leukaemia over that period, but mycobacterial infections as a factor in protection against leukaemia cannot be readily dismissed.…”

The biography of the immune system and the control of cancer: from St Peregrine to contemporary vaccination strategies

“…In this context it is possible that natural infection by Mycobacterium bovis (from which BCG was derived) protected against leukaemia as a 4.5% annual increase in rates of this disease in Great Britain between 1911 and 1959 has been reported [ 73 ]. Notably, 1911 was the year that bovine tuberculosis eradication measures commenced in Great Britain and led to a reduction in viable bovine tubercle bacilli in cows’ milk [ 74 ], although of course there may be alternative explanations for the rise in the incidence of leukaemia.…”