Was just reading an article about a lab at Hershey Medical Center that has identified a virus that has killed cancer cells in laboratory tests and human breast cancer tumors in infected mice. Should the accidental discovery pan out to be the long awaited cure for cancer, it would certainly be the most significant medical breakthrough in over a century and some might argue, of all time. However, before anyone gets ahead of themselves (myself included), there is the history of this type of discovering not panning out in the past.

According to the article, approximately 20 years ago, there was a discovery made that had the medical community (and much of the public in general) if the common cold could hold the cure to cancer. Unfortunately, once the research moved to human trials, the success of the experiment ended. One can only hope this discovery will not meet the same fate.

And there is always the conspiracy theory side of the cancer cure debate that has a cure never being discovered because there is too much money to be made in cancer research. While I won’t engage in a debate over that pessimistic point of view, I will say that when you are talking about the billions of dollars that are involved in this area of research, it is not a theory that can be immediately dismissed. It is my hope, however, that it is one born out of frustration over the lack of a cure and will one day be proven false as a cure comes to light.

Whether or not that cure comes from this small virus remains to be seen.

Sean Fenske, Editor-in-Chief, MDT