Does poor nutrition contribute to the high risk of viral cancer in HIV-infected adults in Uganda?
PI: Alan Kristal DrPH Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a cancer caused by human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8). Most people infected with HHV-8 do not develop KS because their immunologic system can control the viral infection. However, if people are also infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) they may not be able to control their HHV-8 infection, and in these people KS commonly develops. In the United States and in other resource-rich countries, KS was the most common cancer in HIV-infected persons. But after drugs to control HIV were developed and became widely used, KS became very rare. The situation in Africa, however, is very different. In Uganda, a country in eastern Africa, nearly 80% of the population is infected with HHV-8. KS occurred in adults and children prior to the HIV pandemic; however, once the HIV pandemic occurred, rates of KS increased dramatically. Now KS is the most prevalent cancer in the entire population of Uganda. When people develop KS, the disease is far more sev
