1/9. Successful treatment of two dogs with allergic dermatitis by anti-allergic peptides (MS-antigen).The effects of non-specific immunotherapy with anti-allergic peptides extracted from the urine of human allergic patients (MS-antigen), in two dogs with allergic dermatitis (AD) have been described. Clinically, severe pruritus accompanied by secondary bacterial pyoderma did not respond to conventional therapy with systemic antibiotics. The first clinical change appeared as a significant reduction in pruritus within 3 months, around the time of the 15th injection in both cases. The clinical condition was stabilized after 5 months, allowing the gradual withdrawal of concurrent therapies and an increase of injection intervals. The correlation between the results of intradermal skin tests before and after treatment and the improvement of clinical signs was not obvious.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/9. Pruritic eosinophilic papular eruption revealing hiv infection.Eosinophilic folliculitis (EF) is a rare follicular pruritic papular eruption observed in association with human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). The diagnosis of eosinophilic folliculitis is based on the histologic findings consisting of a sterile inflammatory infiltrate rich in eosinophils involving hair follicles. EF in hiv patients is believed to be an immunoinflammatory response directed either at follicular or skin flora antigens in the late-stage of hiv infection. In this stage, immune response is characterized by a shift from a Th1- to a Th2-dominant cytokine profile and an increased secretion of interleukin-4 and interleukin-5, both known to promote eosinophilia. We describe a case of hiv-associated eosinophilic folliculitis in a 30-year-old black woman referred to us for a pruritic follicular eruption without any other clinical symptom related to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. hiv infection presenting with EF has been rarely reported and its occurrence in women is also very rare.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/9. Unusual variants of pemphigoid: from pruritus to pemphigoid nodularis.We report three patients with pemphigoid nodularis. patients were females aged 76, 71 and 50 years, and all had features of bullous pemphigoid together with prurigo-like lesions at some stage of their illness. In two cases, nodular lesions preceded the onset of blistering by some months. Blisters arose on normal skin and in one patients also at sites of prurigo lesions. Routine histology of bullous lesions revealed the presence of subepidermal blisters. Electron microscopy performed in two cases confirmed the level of split to be through the lamina lucida. Direct immunofluorescence in all cases was positive, with linear basement membrane zone deposition of IgG and C3. Circulating IgG anti-basement membrane antibody was also detected in all patients, and in two, immunoblotting revealed a single antigen of 220 kD.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/9. Eosinophilic folliculitis in a Caucasian patient: association with toxocariasis?Sterile eosinophilic folliculitis, a clinical entity first described by Ofuji in 1970, is a rather rare skin disorder, in particular in the non-Asian population. We report the first case of eosinophilic folliculitis associated with toxocariasis in a Caucasian patient. Topical and systemic anti-inflammatory and antiphlogistic therapy along with systemic antihelminthic treatment resulted in complete remission of the skin lesions. In addition, there was a marked decrease of antibodies to Toxocara antigens in the patient's serum following antihelminthic therapy. Given that (I) some cases of eosinophilic folliculitis have been reported which were associated with infestation with metazoan parasites; (2) infestations with the roundworm toxocara canis are known to induce eosinophilic reactions in some tissues; and (3) therapy-induced remission of eosinophilic folliculitis was accompanied by a decrease of Toxocara-directed antibodies in the patient's serum, we propose that there is an aetiopathogenic link between toxocariasis and eosinophilic folliculitis in this patient.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/9. Chronic pruritic eruption in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome associated with increased antibody titers to mosquito salivary gland antigens.Five of seven patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who had pruritus and a chronic, nonspecific-appearing skin eruption had increased antibody titers to antigens in the salivary glands of aedes taeniorhynchus, a salt marsh mosquito common to South florida. We hypothesize that the pruritus and skin lesions in patients with AIDS represent a form of chronic "recall" reaction. Increased antibody titers to mosquito salivary gland antigens may be a consequence of nonspecific B cell activation, a feature of AIDS.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1.2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/9. A rare case of food allergy: monosensitivity to kiwi (actinidia chinensis).We present a case of hypersensitivity to kiwi in a 26 year-old patient with no previous atopic history. The first reaction episode occurred a few minutes after kiwi ingestion, presenting with a localized pruritic reaction. This symptomatology repeated itself a few months later, again immediately after eating kiwi and was accompanied by dysphagia, vomiting and urticaria. In the complementary laboratory analyses a total IgE of 187 IU/ml was appreciated. The skin test to inhalant and food antigens were negative, while the kiwi extract produced a reaction. The histamine release test was positive (20%). Specific IgE levels (Kallestad) demonstrated results of 0.35 AEU/ml (class I). Specific IgG4 levels were normal and the hemagglutination test was negative. With the above results, we concluded that we were dealing with a case of monosensitivity to kiwi which was probably IgE mediated.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/9. Follicular dermographism.Four patients who complained of an inexplicable pruritus of several weeks to several years in duration are presented. General medical studies were unremarkable and the skin was normal except for erythematous papular lesions at sites recently scratched. The skin changes could be reproduced by multiple firm strokes with the broad edge of a tongue blade. The transitory, discrete, follicular, urticarial papules so elicited have been labeled by us as follicular dermographism. It is an entity to be distinguished from cholinergic and aquagenic urticaria. We postulate that follicular dermographism occurs during periods of transient antigenemia. At such times, the frictional force of scratching or the tongue blade test releases antigen from the blood stream to trigger focal urticaria at sites of high density mast cells, namely around the hair follicle. hydroxyzine is an effective therapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.4keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/9. giardiasis causing urticaria in a child.We report an association between giardiasis and chronic urticaria and review the few previous cases in the literature. An unusual aspect of our case was the intensification of the urticarial response with antiprotozoal chemotherapy. We discuss the clinical features in terms of the limited current knowledge concerning immunologic mechanisms in giardiasis and the antigenic structure of giardia lamblia.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/9. Nonbullous pemphigoid: prodrome of bullous pemphigoid or a distinct pemphigoid variant?We describe two patients with pruritic, mainly urticarial or eczematous lesions associated with peripheral blood eosinophilia. No vesicles or blisters developed in either patient throughout the course of the disease (29 and 38 months, respectively). To characterize the clinicopathologic features of these patients we performed histopathologic studies, direct and indirect immunofluorescence, immunoelectron microscopy (patient 2), and immunoprecipitation of both patients' serum. Histopathologic examination revealed a moderate eosinophilic infiltrate partly arranged along the basement membrane zone and focally invading the epidermis. Linear deposits of immunoglobulin and C3 along the dermoepidermal junction were localized within the lamina lucida and over the hemidesmosomal plaques. immunoprecipitation revealed the presence of circulating autoantibodies against the 230 kd bullous pemphigoid antigen. These findings suggest that our patients had a distinct, nonbullous variant of the pemphigoid spectrum.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |