Leukemia

Leukemia kills more children under the age of 15 than any other cancer, and cancer as a whole kills more children under 15 than any other disease. Acute leukemia, the form most often found in children, was once a fast killer. But since World War II, a number of chemical and hormone drugs have been developed to treat both leukemia (a cancer of the blood-forming organs, principally bone marrow) and lymphoma (a cancer of the lymph glands). The drugs slow down the disease for an average of nearly 13 months in acute cases and much longer in chronic cases. Antibiotics and blood transfusions are also useful in leukemia.

Chronic leukemia occurs most often in adults. There will be about more deaths from leukemia in an average year, of which about 20% will be children; and about 80% deaths from various lymphomas. There are no cures for these diseases, but patients can now live under treatment for months or years, free of pain and disability, carrying on their usual activities.