Symptoms and diagnosis

Along with swollen glands, which can get very large, Hodgkin's disease causes a characteristic rising and falling fever known as Pel-Ebstein fever, anaemia and weakness. In people with HIV the disease is particularly likely to spread beyond the lymph nodes, affecting the bone marrow and other parts of the body. This more severe form is known as stage III or IV Hodgkin's disease.

Diagnosis is made by taking a biopsy of a lymph node and studying it under the microscope. Occasionally samples of bone marrow or other soft tissue may be biopsied. The presence of a characteristic cell called the Reed-Sternberg cell must be confirmed to establish the diagnosis.

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