[extropy-chat] [Biomed] Contagious Cancer

[J. Andrew Rogers]

On Aug 17, 2006, at 9:34 AM, Martin Striz wrote:
> On 8/17/06, J. Andrew Rogers <andrew at ceruleansystems.com> wrote:
>> This reminds me of a small and somewhat remote town ("small" = ~500
>> people) I lived in growing up, that had a number of instances of the
>> same kind of fatal cancer over a couple year period.  A few
>> government agencies took a keen interest but after exhaustive studies
>> could find no plausible environmental factors (e.g. contaminants)
>> that could explain how so many people in such  a small population
>> could develop the same kind of cancer at roughly the same time.  And
>> it disappeared as abruptly as it had come.  It would seem that the
>> spontaneous formation of a contagious cancer could reasonably explain
>> that pattern, though at the time people would have thought you were
>> crazy to suggest such a thing was even possible.
>
> What type of cancer was it?


I have no idea.  I was a kid at the time, and would not remember now  
even if I had been told.  The only reason I know about it is that it  
seriously concerned my parents and the other adults in the town at  
the time.  I did not think much of it at the time, but it was strange  
enough to be memorable.

J. Andrew Rogers