Familial cases of lymphogranulomatosis

Among patients with Hodgkin's disease 30 cases of the family disease were revealed during 1972-1988. The occurrence of family pairs of patients with Hodgkin's disease suggests a heritable anomaly or inheritance of a gene predisposing for this disease. In cases of contacts with second degree relatives and children from a single family, one cannot exclude a role of environmental factors and a concurrent transfer of the infectious factor. However, cases of family Hodgkin's disease might be due to a pure coincidence.