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A British eye specialist that treats younger children and infants with the condition Retinoblastoma here in Britain has been researching the steady onset of this condition over in the Sub- Sahara region of Africa where results from studies indicate that a virus may well be responsible for the increased occurrences in small children there.
In the UK, children diagnosed with Retinoblastoma have a ninety six per cent likelihood of surviving the cancer five years after diagnosis of the cancer. However these figures dramatically drop in the African continent to just sixteen percent. Collaborating with colleagues from his home based University at York and the Ugandan University hospital Mbarara he introduced the first chemotherapy program that Africa had seen.Throughout the four years of investigative research Dr Simmons looked into the generality of public health and the one thing that stood out for him was the prevalence of viruses in the country.This has raised the query whether, or not, a virus may be responsible for the increased numbers of the cancer in Sub Saharan Africa.
A request for fundraising has been raised and it is targeted that the National Eye Research Center raise £80,00 this year to fund and support a three year study to look into the question. First stages will endeavor to identify the virus, the second will investigate how it mutates, and the third will be to develop a new vaccination program.