The Burkitt lymphoma in the northern savanna of Nigeria.

In one area of the northern savanna of Nigeria the proportional frequency of the Burkitt lymphoma in childhood cancers was 39 percent. The age, sex and clinical expression of the tumour were similar to the well described pattern in Ibadan in the southern forest belt. The BL can therefore be regarded as "endemic" in this area, although its frequency is probably less than that recorded in the south. The possibility of a differing epidemiological pattern of P. falciparum malaria being responsible for this finding is discussed.