South Dakota is just now hiring a state epidemiologist to track cancer clusters, thus, we need assistance in getting an investigation under way.
Childhood cancer is extremely rare.
The city of Vermillion has had at least 6 childhood cancers over the last few years. Therefore, Vermillion, with a total of 6 child cancer cases, has a child cancer rate equal to that of a town with about 42,000 children, however, our under age 14 population is only about 1,200 children. To look at these statistics from a different angle, if child cancer occurs on average at a rate of 14 cases per 100,000 children aged 14 and younger, this equals about 1 child cancer per 7,000 children. Therefore, a town the size of Vermillion with approximately 1,200 children ages 14 and under should statistically have less than 1 child with cancer. However, Vermillion currently has 6 known cases.