If, in the case of blood cancers, one cause is a poultry virus, then the more the meat was cooked, the more likely it is that the virus was destroyed. Cancer-causing poultry viruses—including the avian herpesvirus that causes Marek’s disease, several retroviruses like reticuloendotheliosis virus, the avian leukosis virus found in chickens, and the lymphoproliferative disease virus found in turkeys—may explain the higher rates of blood cancers among farmers,
