Within the past decade, HIV disease has become one of the most significant epidemics the world has seen. An estimated 29.4 million people have been infected world-wide, with 604,176 cases diagnosed in the United States as of June 1997. In the United States, HIV infection primarily is acquired by male to male sexual transmission and the sharing of needles among intravenous (IV) drug users, although a significant proportion of cases have occurred as a result of heterosexual transmission. The AIDS epidemic has been increasing disproportionately in black and Hispanic populations, and rates of infected women also are rising.

Although there are many different manifestations of HIV disease, neoplasms occur frequently among the more severely compromised patients. As many as one in six HIV-infected people will develop an HIV-related neoplasm. It is not uncommon for patients to be unaware of their HIV-infected status and to have developed to advanced stages of infection where neoplasms are more commonly associated. The primary physician should be aware of symptoms of both the initial and advanced stages of HIV infection, and should attempt to identify patients at-risk as early in the infectious period as possible. Two neoplasms, Kaposi's sarcoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, account for the greatest number of malignancies in HIV-infected patients.