He reported that the incidence of a certain tumour in African children had a geographic distribution corresponding to rainfall and temperature patterns. The disease, which affects about 8 in every 100,000 children in parts of Africa and Papua New Guinea, quickly became known as Burkitt s lymphoma. The influence of climate on its incidence seemed to suggest that some biological factor was involved. Three researchers, M.A. Epstein, Y.M. Barr and B.G. Achong, immediately began looking for possible cancer-causing viruses in samples of the tumour sent from Uganda to Britain. Epstein and Barr were awarded the dubious honour of having the pathogen named after them.
Diseases caused by the virus are particularly common among people with reduced immunity .
For example, the virus is associated with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease , a tumour often found in organ transplant patients. The immune systems of such patients are usually suppressed artificially by drug therapy to help prevent the body from rejecting the new organ. AIDS sufferers, who also have reduced immunity, commonly suffer from oral hairy leukoplakia , a condition involving considerable replication of the Epstein-Barr virus in cells along the edge of the tongue. And researchers have suggested that the high incidence of malaria in countries where Burkitt s lymphoma is prevalent may also play a role in the disease by suppressing the body s immune system. Scientists don t know why the virus causes a relatively mild disease like glandular fever in some people and malignant tumours in others.