Claim: Leukemia causes symptoms.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia , also known as acute lymphocytic leukemia or acute lymphoid leukemia -LRB- ALL -RRB- , is an acute form of leukemia , or cancer of the white blood cells , characterized by the overproduction and accumulation of cancerous , immature white blood cells , known as lymphoblasts . In persons with ALL , lymphoblasts are overproduced in the bone marrow and continuously multiply , causing damage and death by inhibiting the production of normal cells -LRB- such as red and white blood cells and platelets -RRB- in the bone marrow and by spreading -LRB- infiltrating -RRB- to other organs . ALL is most common in childhood , with a peak incidence at 2 -- 5 years of age and another peak in old age .   The symptoms of ALL are indicative of a reduced production of functional blood cells , because leukemia wastes the resources of the bone marrow that are normally used to produce new , functioning blood cells . These symptoms can include fever , increased risk of infection -LRB- especially bacterial infections like pneumonia , due to neutropenia ; symptoms of such an infection include shortness of breath , chest pain , cough , vomiting -RRB- , increased tendency to bleed -LRB- due to thrombocytopenia -RRB- , and signs indicative of anemia , including pallor , tachycardia -LRB- high heart rate -RRB- , fatigue , and headache .   About 6,000 cases are reported in the United States every year . Internationally , ALL is more common in Caucasians than in Africans ; it is more common in Hispanics and in Latin America . Cure is a realistic goal and is achieved in more than 80 % of affected children , although only 20-40 % of adults are cured . `` Acute '' is defined by the World Health organization standards , in which greater than 20 % of the cells in the bone marrow are blasts . Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is defined as having less than 20 % blasts in the bone marrow .   ALL was one of the first cancers for which an effective chemotherapeutic treatment was developed . Antifolates like aminopterin and methotrexate were developed in the late 1940s by Sidney Farber and Yellapragada Subbarow . At that time , a doctor did not need a patient 's or parent 's consent to try an experimental treatment as the Nuremberg code had not yet been signed . Desperate to save his patients , Farber initially tried folic acid supplementation as a treatment for ALL . This had disastrous consequences and he likely accelerated the children 's deaths .