Abstract
Moritz Kohn (1837–1902) was born in Kaposvar, Hungary, and became a medical student in Vienna. He changed his name to Kaposi, coined from the village where he was born. He became the protégé of Professor of Dermatology Ferdinand von Hebra, married his daughter, Martha, and eventually succeeded Hebra as Professor of Dermatology and as author of Hebra's three-volume textbook of Dermatology. He was the first to confer upon the description butterfly to lupus erythematosus and drew attention to its systemic involvement. He described rhinoscleroma and rhinophyma but he achieved an eponomist's immortality for his account of a peculiar skin sarcoma ‘Idiopathisches multiplex pigmentsarkomder haut’. 1 During the AIDS epidemic it reappeared due to an agent spread by oral–faecal transmission.
Endemic Kaposi's sarcoma in Africa is a chronic nodular condition predominantly affecting the feet and legs with lymphoedema. It predominates in areas containing volcanic clay minerals. It evolves from initial lymphatic endothelium to an aggressive invasive spindle-cell sarcoma. Faecal transmission of an infective agent is aided by poor sanitation.