'Research Links New Virus to Rare Form of Skin Cancer'

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Scientists have discovered a new virus and strongly linked it with the most aggressive form of skin cancer, they reported in a scientific journal on Thursday.

The skin cancer, called Merkel cell carcinoma, tends to occur most often on the sun exposed areas of the body like the face, head and neck.

Although rare, the incidence of Merkel cell carcinoma tripled between 1986 and 2001, now accounting for an estimated 1,200 cases in this country each year, the National Cancer Institute says.

The team that discovered the new virus at the University of Pittsburgh includes Dr. Patrick S. Moore and his wife, Dr. Yuan Chang. They also discovered the Kaposi’s sarcoma virus (human herpes virus 8) in 1994 when they were at Columbia University.

Until the advent of transplant surgery and AIDS, Kaposi’s sarcoma and Merkel cell carcinoma typically affected people older than 65. Now both cancers occur much more commonly among transplant and AIDS patients, who have impaired immune systems, than among people without such medical problems. . . .