Endemic Kaposi's sarcoma: Incidence and risk factors in the west Nile district Of Uganda

Abstract

Out of 72 Kaposi's sarcoma patients diagnosed between 1951 and March 1976 at Kuluva Hospital, West Nile District, Uganda, 64 with known co‐ordinates were plotted on a map. Sixty‐two of these were noted to live at an altitude of 853 metres or more (≥ 2,800 feet). Twenty‐four patients were thought to be still alive and visits were made to their homes. Space‐time grouping of four cases was noted on two occasions, although analysis did not reveal statistically significant clustering. A case‐control study employing an interview questionnaire with 32 variables was performed on 19 patients and their age‐and sex‐matched neighbourhood controls, and sera were collected from both groups and from their families for estimation of viral antibody titres. The results demonstrated that cases tended to be post‐pubertal males, a high proportion of whom had been bitten by a blood‐sucking insect identified as being similar to Haematopota. Both cases and controls had raised antibody levels to cytomegalovirus, but cases obtained their drinking water more commonly from rivers whereas controls tended to use water from springs, boreholes or pipes.