%0 Journal Article
%T HIV and cancer in Africa: mutual collaboration between HIV and cancer programs may provide timely research and public health data
%A Sam M Mbulaiteye
%A Kishor Bhatia
%A Clement Adebamowo
%A Annie J Sasco
%J Infectious Agents and Cancer
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1750-9378-6-16
%X The global cancer burden has been increasing rapidly over the past 30 years [1], both in developed and developing countries [2]. The number of cases almost doubled from 7.6 million in 2002 to 12.7 million in 2008 [3], and are projected to continue increasing at 70% per year over the next 20 years [4]. The emergence and alarming spread, of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has contributed to these increases. Heralded by eruption of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) [5,6] and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), including Burkitt lymphoma (BL) [7,8] in homosexual men in New York in 1981, the HIV epidemic has impacted the burden and trend of cancer in different countries. Abrupt increases in the number of KS cases in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where KS was endemic [9,10], and in different countries in Europe [11], where KS was rare, signaled the pandemic nature of HIV and the general impact of the epidemic on cancer [12-14]. KS and aggressive NHLs, because of their dramatically elevated risk (100,000 and 282, respectively, in the U.S. [15]) with HIV and cervical cancer (CC) with less dramatic increase (10 times), were categorized as AIDS defining cancers (ADCs) to facilitate AIDS surveillance. Only a few other cancers were noted to be modestly increased with HIV and were categorized as non-AIDS-defining cancers (NADCs) [16]. While ADCs contributed the majority of cancer early in the AIDS epidemic, NADCs have assumed greater importance as survival has lengthened and patients are aging with HIV. Cancer now is estimated to contribute up to one third of deaths in patients with HIV in developed countries [17,18].Although 70% of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa [19,20], the impact of HIV on cancer in this region is incompletely described. The impact of HIV on ADCs in Africa is similar, but less strong, than in the West [21,22]. Sparse data preclude detailed comparisons of pattern of NADCs, but dramatic increase in squamous cell carci
%U http://www.infectagentscancer.com/content/6/1/16