Skin Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Skin Cancer, including details on identification, causes, prevention, treatment.

Classic Kaposi's sarcoma in the Inuit of northern Quebec.

Rosen N, Watters AK, Brassard A

Division of Dermatology, McGill University Health Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. nathanrosen@videotron.ca

BACKGROUND: Classic Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is predominantly a disease of eastern Mediterranean and Ashkenazi Jewish elderly men. Nevertheless, the disease has been reported to occur in people from various other ethnic and regional backgrounds. OBJECTIVE: We report, for the first time, the occurrence of classic KS in five Inuit people living in northern Quebec, Canada. METHODS AND RESULTS: We describe the case of a 69-year-old Inuit man with classic KS, and report four other cases of KS in the Inuit population, identified by a review of our hospital's dermatopathology records. CONCLUSION: The discovery of classic KS in the Inuit population of northern Quebec brings with it new questions as to the origins of the KS-associated herpes virus in this population. It is our belief that the answers to these questions are in the genotype of the virus that is present in this community.

Published 4 February 2005 in J Am Acad Dermatol, 52(2): 31-4.
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