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''Although sporadic cases are occurring, it looks like the acute phase of this epidemic is over,'' [Thylefors] said. Cuban health officials plan to continue dispensing vitamins to the entire population until the exact cause of the epidemic is determined, Thylefors said. Cuban scientists have published a booklet that makes it ''clear that there is a significant difference'' in nutrition between people with the illness and healthy individuals, Thylefors said. Early in the epidemic, Cuban scientists identified a virus that they thought might be the cause of the epidemic. However, Thylefors said, that finding has not been confirmed

An epidemic of a mysterious illness that has impaired vision and damaged nerves among nearly 51,000 people in Cuba seems to have ended without a specific cause being found, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The most likely explanation is a combination of a nutritional deficiency and another unidentified factor, probably a toxic substance, Dr. Bjorn Thylefors of WHO said after returning from a visit to Cuba. The epidemic has occurred at a time when the Cuban diet has undergone a drastic change and the average caloric consumption has fallen after the collapse of trade between Cuba and the former Soviet Union

The World Health Organization said on Sep 29, 1993 that an epidemic of mysterious illness that has impaired vision and damaged nerves among nearly 51,000 people in Cuba appears to have ended. A specific cause for the illness has not yet been found

An epidemic of a mysterious illness that has impaired vision and damaged nerves among nearly 51,000 people in Cuba seems to have ended without a specific cause being found, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The most likely explanation is a combination of a nutritional deficiency and another unidentified factor, probably a toxic substance, said Dr. Bjorn Thylefors of WHO in an interview after returning from a visit to Cuba

The most likely explanation is a combination of a nutritional deficiency and another unidentified factor, probably a toxic substance, Dr. Bjorn Thylefors of the U.N. agency said in an interview after returning from a visit to Cuba. The epidemic has occurred at a time when the Cuban diet has undergone a drastic change and the average caloric consumption has fallen after the collapse of trade between Cuba and the former Soviet Union. 'Although sporadic cases are occurring, it looks like the acute phase of this epidemic is over,' [Thylefors] said. Cuban health officials plan to continue dispensing vitamins to the entire population until the exact cause of the epidemic is determined, Thylefors said

According to a study to be printed in the British Medical Journal on Sep 25, 1993, children who attended a day care center for at least three months before two years of age were found to have a lower risk of developing childhood leukemia than children who were not placed in such an environment

[Dimitrios Trichopoulos]'s findings strengthen a thesis advanced in recent years by scientists in England and Scotland that children exposed to an as yet undetected virus or other infectious agent very early in life may gain immunity to childhood leukemia. Childhood leukemia is the most common cancer among children under the age of 15. In developing the thesis, scientists have used poliomyelitis as a model. Poliomyelitis is a paralyzing form of an infection caused by a virus. In most cases, the polio virus causes widespread but symptomless infection. Cases of paralysis are rare, with the ratio of symptomless infection exceeding cases of paralysis by 100 to 1. Scientists don't know why some people develop the paralytic form, which is now prevented by immunizations

'There's no question the virus will be destroyed,' said Dr. Yuri Ghendon, a health organization official. 'The question is, 'Is this the correct time?' ' One obstacle to meeting the Dec. 31 deadline is the need to get permission for destruction of smallpox virus from all countries that have lent their stocks to the United States and Russia. The United States holds virus from Britain, Denmark and Japan. Russia holds virus from other countries. It is not known how many doses of the virus are in storage. Still Lurking in Nature? 'As a scientist I have said in years past that the virus should be kept,' said Dr. Ghendon, the Russian virologist who now works for the health organization. 'But now when I think as a grandfather what could happen to my grandson, I believe the virus should be destroyed. Though now may not be the right time.'

For the first time in history, scientists are preparing to totally eradicate the last remaining stocks of the smallpox virus that have been kept frozen in laboratories in Atlanta and Moscow. Some scientists, however, fear that such a move would make it impossible to study the virus should the need arise in the future