The Epstein Barr Virus
The Epstein Barr Virus
April 17, 2014
Biology 202
American International College
History and Discovery of the EBV
In the year of 1943, a well-known surgeon by the name of Deins Burkitt was assigned to British Colonial African troops in East Africa. He was stationed in Kenya and Somaliland. Burkitt was ambitious to offer his help to Uganda at that time because it was both a thriving and peaceful country with much Christian activity. This appealed deeply to Burkitt’s religious views. After World War II, Burkitt applied to the British Colonial Office to join its Medical Service in Uganda and was accepted. Burkitt first appointment was in Lira’s Lango District, where he was in charge of a population of about 300,000 people with nothing more than one hundred beds’ to cover all of the branches necessities of medicine and surgery. In the year of 1957, while Burkitt was working in the capital of Uganda, which is Kampala, he was asked by a colleague about a child with baffling swellings in all four angles of his jaw which did not seem to be an infection or cancerous. In spite of the bewilderment, Burkitt wrote thorough notes and had taken photographs of the boys’ case; then shortly afterwards, while he was visiting another hospital, Burkitt noticed another child with swellings in all four jaw angles similar to the one his colleague have showed him. Burkitt immediately realized that this was something particular; beside that the boy also had abdominal tumor. Finding two similar cases indicated that something more was occurring than curiosity. This motivated Burkitt to look at the details he conducted from the two cases which he took to the records department of Mulago hospital. Burkitts’ research was originally for children’s cancers. Research showed that jaw tumors were common, and were often associated with other tumors at rare locations of the body. Also, the research concluded that when the cancer was discovered after the surface
April 17, 2014
Biology 202
American International College
History and Discovery of the EBV
In the year of 1943, a well-known surgeon by the name of Deins Burkitt was assigned to British Colonial African troops in East Africa. He was stationed in Kenya and Somaliland. Burkitt was ambitious to offer his help to Uganda at that time because it was both a thriving and peaceful country with much Christian activity. This appealed deeply to Burkitt’s religious views. After World War II, Burkitt applied to the British Colonial Office to join its Medical Service in Uganda and was accepted. Burkitt first appointment was in Lira’s Lango District, where he was in charge of a population of about 300,000 people with nothing more than one hundred beds’ to cover all of the branches necessities of medicine and surgery. In the year of 1957, while Burkitt was working in the capital of Uganda, which is Kampala, he was asked by a colleague about a child with baffling swellings in all four angles of his jaw which did not seem to be an infection or cancerous. In spite of the bewilderment, Burkitt wrote thorough notes and had taken photographs of the boys’ case; then shortly afterwards, while he was visiting another hospital, Burkitt noticed another child with swellings in all four jaw angles similar to the one his colleague have showed him. Burkitt immediately realized that this was something particular; beside that the boy also had abdominal tumor. Finding two similar cases indicated that something more was occurring than curiosity. This motivated Burkitt to look at the details he conducted from the two cases which he took to the records department of Mulago hospital. Burkitts’ research was originally for children’s cancers. Research showed that jaw tumors were common, and were often associated with other tumors at rare locations of the body. Also, the research concluded that when the cancer was discovered after the surface