Successful treatment of Behcet's syndrome in an African female patient with thalidomide

Behcet's disease in patients of west African and Afro-Caribbean origin

“…The exact role of the allele in promoting disease remains unknown. It is of great interest however that the prevalence of Behçet's disease is low both in central and west African populations, being limited to no more than eight reports of individual cases or short series, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and only one previous report has described patients from the Caribbean, all of whom were HLA-B51 negative. 12 Furthermore, at least two of the reports in the world literature describe patients resident in the United Kingdom, 7 8 supporting the view that the true prevalence of disease in native African or Afro-Caribbean populations is very low indeed.…”

“…2 In the other patient, with ocular and neurological involvement, typical histological changes were noted at necropsy. 3 This series suggests that, while Behçet's disease is rare in patients of west African descent in Africa and the Caribbean, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] it may nevertheless occur in ethnic groups who were previously thought to have negligible risk of disease, and raises the possibility that environmental factors do contribute to the disease.…”