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Kaposi’s sarcoma and insertive rimming SIR,-Professor Beral and colleagues (March 14, p 632) suggest that among homosexual men, faecal-oral contact, and in particular insertive "rimming", is the main route of transmission of the putative agent of Kaposi’s sarcoma. We have investigated this hypothesis in the Sydney AIDS Prospective Study, a cohort of 1075 homosexual and bisexual men enrolled in 1984 who completed every six months a self-administered questionnaire on sexual practice.1 Between 1984 and 1991, AIDS developed in 171 men; 55 (32%) diagnosed with Kaposi’s sarcoma. We found no significant difference between the proportion of men with (53%, 29/55) and the proportion of men without (56%, 65/116) Kaposi’s sarcoma who practised insertive rimming between enrolment in the study and the diagnosis of AIDS. While 87% of men with Kaposi’s sarcoma in the London study had practised insertive rimming just over half those with Kaposi’s sarcoma in the Sydney cohort (55%) reported this sexual activity before their AIDS diagnosis. The proportion of men without Kaposi’s sarcoma who said they had practised insertive rimming was similar in the two groups (London 49%, Sydney 56%). In Sydney, the percentage of men with AIDS in whom Kaposi’s sarcoma developed fell from 54% to 17% between 1984-85 and A similar decline has been 1990-91 (X2 for trend 9-7, p

Human papillomavirus type 16 and Kaposi's sarcoma.

938 Kaposi’s sarcoma and insertive rimming SIR,-Professor Beral and colleagues (March 14, p 632) suggest that among homosexual men, faecal-oral conta...
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