Form of undifferentiated malignant lymphoma usually found in central africa, but also reported in other parts of the world; commonly manifested as a large osteolytic lesion in the jaw or as an abdominal mass; b-cell antigens are expressed on the immature cells that make up the tumor in virtually all cases of burkitt lymphoma; the epstein-barr virus (human herpesvirus 4) has been isolated from burkitt lymphoma cases in africa and it is implicated as the causative agent in these cases, however, most non-african cases are ebv-negative.

Burkitt's lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, particularly B lymphocytes found in the germinal center. It is named after Denis Parsons Burkitt, the Irish surgeon who first described the disease in 1958 while working in equatorial Africa...