A form of undifferentiated malignant lymphoma usually found in central africa, but also reported in other parts of the world. It is 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 tumour in virtually all cases of burkitt lymphoma. The epstein-barr virus (herpes virus 4, human) 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.