The statement in defendant's August 27, 1991 article that plaintiff, a well known publicist, had been diagnosed with cancer does not constitute libel per se. Cancer is not a loathsome disease ( Chuy v Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, 595 F.2d 1265, 1280-1282) and it cannot be said that society as a whole views it, as urged by plaintiff, as a sexually transmitted disease. Under plaintiffs' analysis, pneumonia or colds would fall into the same category because of their association with AIDS. To the contrary, "there is no authority for classifying [cancer] among the diseases of which false imputations are defamatory" ( Cruz v Latin News Impacto Newspaper, 216 A.D.2d 50, 52 [statement that plaintiff had tuberculosis is not defamatory]).
Finally, inasmuch as we find the complained of statements are not defamatory, the claims of the corporate plaintiff must likewise fall.
Concur — Rubin, J.P., Kupferman, Williams and Tom, JJ.