LONOKE COUNTY, Ark. – New information from the State Health Department after a investigation found several men living in a rural area of Lonoke County had all been diagnosed with a similar type of rare brain tumor.
Even after our first story aired, we’ve been contacted by several people who live in the same area that have also been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Wednesday, the Department of Health says the data shows there’s a slight uptick in Lonoke County compared to the state average, but not enough to be considered a cancer cluster.
Jeremy Guenther is at the Arkansas Department of Health learning the result of the cancer cluster investigation.
“I’m just glad to find out that it turned out the way it did,” Guenther said.
We first met Guenther in May shortly after he, his childhood friend Ray, and others who lived just outside Austin realized they all had similar rare brain tumors.
Guenther says at least four people who live on the same rural road got the same diagnosis.
“Three families, four brain tumors,” Guenther said.
In the weeks that followed, the ADH state chronic disease director says his department followed the guidelines for investigating clusters of chronic diseases.
“We did not find any excess cancers than what is expected based on the current rate for Lonoke County for malignant cancers,” Dr. Appathurai Balamurugan said.
He says they looked at brain cancer registry data from 2004-2015. He says even though data is slightly higher than the state and national numbers, it’s not enough to be considered a cancer cluster.
He says his team will continue to look at cancer data that comes in.
“We will be collecting the information moving forward and working with the concerned citizen to make sure in the future someone had to show,” Dr. Balamurugan said.
“It was really about finding out if families were okay to be out there,” Guenther said.
Guenther says the numbers don’t lie, but it’s left him wondering if there may be more, especially with so many tumors in the small area.
“There’s still something in the back of your mind that says you can’t just be that unlucky,” Guenther said.
How the data is collected, ADH looked at Lonoke County as a whole. The researchers weren’t able to specifically looked at the small area Guenther lived in.
Concerns Over Several Brain Tumors Reported In Rural Lonoke County
Arkansas Department Of Health To Look Into Possible Lonoke County Cancer Cluster
