IS RISK OF KAPOSIS-SARCOMA IN AIDS PATIENTS IN BRITAIN INCREASED IF SEXUAL PARTNERS CAME FROM UNITED-STATES OR AFRICA

Objective-To determine whether the risk of Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with AIDS is increased by sexual contact with groups from abroad with a high incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma. Design-Analysis of data on patients with AIDS and Kaposi's sarcoma. Setting-United Kingdom. Patients-2830 patients with AIDS reported to the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre and the Communicable Disease (Scotland) Unit up to March 1990, of whom 566 had Kaposi's sarcoma. Main outcome measures-Number of patients with Kaposi's sarcoma and possible source of HIV infection. Results-537 of 2291 men (23%) who acquired AIDS through sexual contact had Kaposi's sarcoma; the risk associated with heterosexual contact was 10% (14/135). None of the patients with Kaposi's sarcoma for whom information on source of infection was available had contracted AIDS through non-sexual means. Kaposi's sarcoma was more common among homosexual men whose likely source of infection included the United States (171/551, 31%) or Africa (9/134, 26%) than among those infected in the United Kingdom (119/625, 19%; p < 0.05). Conclusion-The data suggest that Kaposi's sarcoma is caused by a transmissible agent and that an important route of transmission is sexual contact.