Multiple Cases of Leukemia Associated With One House

Leukemia occurred in four persons associated with a single house in a small town between 1950 and 1967. Three of these persons had acute leukemia and one had chronic granulocytic leukemia progressing to acute leukemia. Three were occupants of the house and the fourth was a frequent visitor. No other occupants of the house have suffered from malignant neoplasm. Radiation surveys of the house and its surroundings revealed no abnormalities. Other town residents with leukemia did not live near the index house and were not clustered in other houses. A survey of 917 cases of leukemia in metropolitan Atlanta revealed only four addresses shared by more than one person with leukemia. All four were addresses of multiple family dwellings. The occurrence of multiple cases of leukemia in a single house is clearly a rare event. While at present their significance is hard to assess, the possible importance of such events warrants their close investigation whenever they are detected.