An outbreak of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) has been identified in animals from the Animal Production Area (APA) at NCI-Frederick. On Jan. 30, the University of Missouri diagnostic lab informed APA staff that some mice sent from Building 1029 on Jan. 23 for routine testing were showing borderline antibody levels to MHV. On Feb. 2, additional animals were sent from Building 1029 to the Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (AHDL) where antibodies to MHV were detected in the sera. All previous routine testing for MHV had been negative.

Building 1029 was immediately quarantined and all shipments stopped. The building has since been depopulated and is being decontaminated. The building housed DBA/2NCr, BALB/cAnNCr, C3H/HeNCr MTV-, Sencar A/PtCr, and CD2F1Cr mice. Mice from Building 1029 had been distributed to numerous animal facilities on both the Frederick and NIH campuses as well as to other organizations throughout the United States.  Read more  



Helping Every Smoker Who Would Like to Quit

Last week, at a press conference attended by Surgeon General Richard Carmona, CDC Director Julie Gerberding, and me, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson affirmed his strong opposition to tobacco and announced plans to take another important step in the ongoing effort to address the burden of tobacco use in this country. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will co-fund the implementation of a national network of smoking cessation quitlines. This network will provide all smokers in the United States with access to the support and the most up-to-date information they need to quit.

Adult smoking rates have been cut nearly in half since the Surgeon General first recognized cigarette smoking as a cause of cancer and other serious diseases 40 years ago. Unfortunately, 46 million adults in this country continue to smoke today, and tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of premature death in the nation.  Read more  

This NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads a national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic and clinical biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.