Kaposi's sarcoma associated with hairy cell leukaemia.

Hairy cell leukaemia is a rare condition and the patient reported here is only the third such case out of 527 patients with all types of leukaemia seen at our hospital over the last 4 years. A second malignancy in a patient with hairy cell leukaemia has been documented in detail only once before (Adler, Shetty and Golomb, 1979). The association of Kaposi's sarcoma, a common tumour in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with hairy cell leukaemia is of interest, not only because of the rarity of such an event, but also in the light of recent discussion about a possible infective aetiology for Kaposi's sarcoma.