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

ABSTRACT

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.