Since the early 1970s, incidence rates for non-Hodgkin s lymphoma have nearly doubled. Incidence rates for Hodgkin s disease have declined over the same time period, especially among the elderly. Enlarged lymph nodes, itching, fever, night sweats, anemia and weight loss.
Fever can come and go in periods of several days or weeks.
Persons with organ transplants are at higher risk due to altered immune function. Burkitt's lymphoma in Africa is partly caused by the Epstein-Barr herpes virus. Other possible risk factors include occupational exposures to herbicides and perhaps other chemicals. Patients with later-stage disease often benefit from the addition of chemotherapy. New programs using highly specific monoclonal antibodies directed at lymphoma cells, and high-dose chemotherapy with bone marrow transplantation, are being investigated in selected patients who relapse after standard treatment.