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. 2010 Mar;7(3):1139-52.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph7031139. Epub 2010 Mar 17.

A multidisciplinary investigation of a polycythemia vera cancer cluster of unknown origin

Vincent Seaman  1 , Steve M Dearwent, Debra Gable, Brian Lewis, Susan Metcalf, Ken Orloff, Bruce Tierney, Jane Zhu, James Logue, David Marchetto, Stephen Ostroff, Ronald Hoffman, Mingjiang Xu, David Carey, Porat Erlich, Glenn Gerhard, Paul Roda, Joseph Iannuzzo, Robert Lewis, John Mellow, Linda Mulvihill, Zachary Myles, Manxia Wu, Arthur Frank, Carol Ann Gross-Davis, Judith Klotz, Adam Lynch, Joel Weissfeld, Rona Weinberg, Henry Cole
Affiliations

A multidisciplinary investigation of a polycythemia vera cancer cluster of unknown origin

Vincent Seaman et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2010 Mar.

Abstract

Cancer cluster investigations rarely receive significant public health resource allocations due to numerous inherent challenges and the limited success of past efforts. In 2008, a cluster of polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer with unknown etiology, was identified in northeast Pennsylvania. A multidisciplinary group of federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and local healthcare providers subsequently developed a multifaceted research portfolio designed to better understand the cause of the cluster. This research agenda represents a unique and important opportunity to demonstrate that cancer cluster investigations can produce desirable public health and scientific outcomes when necessary resources are available.

Keywords: Pennsylvania; cancer cluster; environmental exposure; polycythemia vera.

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