[Demonstration of Epstein-Barr virus genome in european Burkitt lymphoma (author's transl)].

A 6-year-old European boy with a tumour in the head and neck region died 86 days after the first occurrence of symptoms despite chemo- and radiotherapy. An epipharyngeal biopsy at the beginning of the disease and a cytological investigation of biopsy and autopsy material showed non-Hodgkin lymphoma with a high degree of malignancy of the Burkitt type. High antibody titres against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific virus capsid antigen, nuclear antigen and the R component of the EBV-early-antigen-complex as well as the approximately 27 EBV genome equivalents per tumour cell, demonstrated by DNA-DNA hybridisation, characterised the tumour as true Burkitt lymphoma which is observed extremely seldom outside Africa.