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 How
do Virologists Help Cancer Children?
Dr.
Paul K. S. Chan
Department of Microbiology
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The
outbreak of the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong has made instant
stars of Dr. Paul K. S. Chan and his colleagues at the Department
of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University
of Hong Kong. In Hong Kong there are less than a handful of
clinical virologists. When the SARS disease was raging in
Hong Kong, these clinical virologists had not only help in
patient management , they had also worked behind the scene
to track the culprit virus, and to provide diagnostic services.
Dr. Chan has a close relationship with the Lady Pao Children's
Cancer Centre (CCC). How did he apply his expert knowledge
in helping the children fight the disease?
What
does a clinical virologist do?
According
to Dr. Chan's personal account:
"If
it hasn't been for the outbreak of a serious epidemic like
SARS, most people wouldn't have cared much about what we do.
Simply speaking, our job covers four main areas: academic
research, teaching, viral testing, and advice on management
of viral diseases.
"Take
SARS for example. My team had to detect the virus from patient's
sample using various means including traditional method such
as electron microscopy to see and to identify the virus, also
modern methods such as molecular techniques and gene sequencing
to further characterize the virus. These tests are essential
in helping doctors to correctly diagnose SARS cases and administer
the appropriate treatment and infection control measures.
Because of the huge increase in workload during the outbreak
of the epidemic, we had to put aside other routine duties,
such as research on other viruses, teaching of medical students
and other non-urgent work including our regular clinical meeting
with CCC."
Why
was there a need to cooperate with CCC?
"I
usually work closely with the department of infectious diseases,
pediatrics and CCC, because these units have a more pressing
need for viral diagnosis and research. For example, I frequently
meet with doctors of the CCC. The main reason is that cancer
can greatly weaken the immune systems of the child patients.
This is especially true for children who have undergone bone
marrow transplant operation or chemotherapy. They are particularly
susceptible to viral infections. Many viruses that normally
have no effect on healthy people can cause life-threatening
diseases to cancer children. My major research interest is
on elucidating the role of viral infections in human cancers.These
research work is always my source of job satisfaction."
How
do you help cancer children?
"I've
been working closely with the doctors at CCC on research projects
relating to viral infections in immunocompromised children
since 1996. One of our recent project was on the evaluation
of a new drug for treating common cold. Our aim was to find
out if this new drug can be effectively and safely applied
in children who have undergone chemotherapy. Another recent
project was to examine the efficacy of a new combination of
drugs for treating hepatitis C infection in Thalassaemia children.
"The
most successful example over the past few years is that we
were the first to discover a new disease association human
herpesvirus 7. We have confirmed that the newly identified
human herpesvirus 7 is able to cause fatal encephalitis in
children who had received hemic stem cell transplant. * To
follow this discovery, we have set up a rapid diagnostic test
to identify these cases, so that immediate treatment can be
given to the child."
* The
Abstract of "Case report: Human herpesvirus 7 associated
fatal encephalitis in a peripheral blood stem cell transplant
recipient" can be found in: www.childcancure.org.hk/english/publications/
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