Recently, the state of New Jersey made the local news with a rather unusual medical situation when it was discovered that 94 people who attended the same educational center developed a rare brain tumor.
The first case of the disease to date was identified in the late 1990s when environmental scientists Al LupianoThe then 27yearold received such a diagnosis. But the story took on a bigger scope last year than the wife and sister of lupineHe, too, who attended the same school as him, Colonia High School, developed a brain tumor.
The environmental scientist’s sister died in February this year at the age of 44 and has been since Al began to wonder what caused the three to have such a condition. In search of answers, he created a Facebook group to find former students at the institution with the same condition.
I started researching and three became five, five became seven, seven became 15,” he said in an interview with the New York Post.
Over time, lupine gathered 94 alumni and staff who were also diagnosed with the same type of brain tumor. Although it is not yet known what prompted the group to develop this disease, there is a possibility that the episode is related to environmental issues such as ionizing radiation.
“It’s not contaminated water. It’s not air. It’s not something in the ground,” said the scientist.
Now environmental authorities are investigating what could have caused such a scenario, which would be essential to understanding what affected the group and how it impacted the environment in that region.
about the disease
The tumor diagnosed in the group is called glioblastoma, which is recorded in only 3.21 people out of a group of 100,000, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
This type of primary malignant tumor affecting the central nervous system can affect not only the brain but also the spinal cord as it is considered highly invasive and responsible for the majority of deaths in patients with primary brain tumors.