The study by OSU-3C had examined tissues of 58 people with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a highly curable form of common skin cancer that is likely to affect more than 200,000 Americans this year.

They identified the virus in more than a third of the patients and in 15 percent of the tumours tested.

The virus was first discovered in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer that occurs mainly in the elderly and people with a suppressed immune system.

The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.