Meyerson of Dana-Farber said it may be time for a systematic approach to studying cancer-causing viruses. The Human Genome Project, which identified the 25,000 or so human genes, could help researchers find microbial invaders in human tissue and fluids: If scientists find genes that aren't in the genome, they must be from a nonhuman source such as viruses or bacteria.
"Once we find the first new pathogen with this approach, the field will explode," Meyerson predicts.
In the meantime, oral cancer survivor Hill and his wife get tested regularly to see if the papilloma virus has returned, and he wants health officials to do more to fight viruses now.
Hill's California-based foundation is pushing to get the new cervical cancer vaccine, which protects girls against HPV-16 and HPV-18, to be offered to boys as well - something the vaccine makers are investigating. It's possible, he said, to eradicate one major cancer-causing virus a generation from now. "We must act now."
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