Lesiones pruriginosas en el embarazo como presentación inusual de una variante poco frecuente de lepra multibacilar / Pruritic Lesions During Pregnancy: An Unusual Presentation of a Rare Variant of Multibacillary Leprosy

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The clinical significance of immunological contact urticaria to processed grains.

Contact urticaria, is characterized by an urticarial wheal-and-flare reaction at the site of contact by an allergen. Immunological contact urticaria, while less common than non-immunological contact urticaria, has more potentially serious consequences, and therefore, its recognition and treatment is important. Immunological contact urticaria is a type I hypersensitivity reaction. Potential complications include organ system involvement other than skin and even anaphylaxis and death. A vast majority of immunological contact urticaria is work-related. We will discuss the definition of immunological contact urticaria, the mechanism of the contact urticarial reaction, contact urticaria in the occupational setting, and the role of grains in contact urticaria. Testing and treatment are also briefly discussed.

Autologous serum therapy in chronic urticaria: old wine in a new bottle.

BACKGROUND: Chronic urticaria (CU) is one of the most challenging and frustrating therapeutic problems faced by a dermatologist. A recent demonstration of abnormal type 1 reactions to intradermal autologous serum injections in some CU patients has led to the characterization of a new subgroup of "autoimmune chronic urticaria". This has rekindled interest in the age-old practice of autologous blood injections as a theoretically sound treatment option in these patients. AIMS: To evaluate the efficacy of repeated autologous serum injections (ASIs) in patients with recalcitrant chronic urticaria. METHODS: A cohort of 62 (32 females) CU patients with a positive autologous serum skin test (ASST) (group 1) was prospectively analyzed for the efficacy of nine consecutive weekly autologous serum injections with a postintervention follow-up of 12 weeks. Another group of 13 (seven females) CU patients with negative ASST (group 2) was also treated similarly. In both groups, six separate parameters of disease severity and activity were recorded. RESULTS: Demographic and disease variables were comparable in both groups. The mean duration of disease was 1.9 +/- 0.3 years (range = 3 months to 32 years) in group 1 and 1.5 +/- 0.2 years (range = 3 months to 10 years) in group 2. In the ASST (+) group, 35.5% patients were completely asymptomatic at the end of the follow-up while an additional 24.2% were markedly improved. In the ASST (-) group, these figures were 23 and 23% respectively. The intergroup difference for complete subsidence was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In both groups, the most marked reduction was seen in pruritus and antihistamine use scores followed by the size and frequency of the wheals. CONCLUSION: Autologous serum therapy is effective in a significant proportion of ASST (+) patients with CU. A smaller but still substantial number of ASST (-) patients also benefited from this treatment.

Immediate hypersensitivity to rifampicin in 3 patients: diagnostic procedures and induction of clinical tolerance.

BACKGROUND: Desensitization with drugs may be indicated in some clinical situations. Apart from large experiences with beta-lactam antibiotics and cotrimoxazole in HIV infection, experience with other drugs is limited. Rifampicin may elicit exanthema and urticaria, and their pathomechanisms are not known in detail. Since therapy with rifampicin may be indispensable in mycobacterial infections or against multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus, desensitization may be indicated in some patients. OBJECTIVE: Report of immediate hypersensitivity to rifampicin and description of diagnostic and desensitization procedures. METHODS: We report 3 patients with immediate urticarial reactions to rifampicin. Diagnostic procedures included skin and in vitro tests (specific IgE, lymphocyte transformation test, LTT, and CAST). The non-irritant cutoff concentration was evaluated in 24 volunteers. A 7-day desensitization procedure was used. RESULTS: Only intradermal tests at a dilution of at least 1:10,000 (concentration of rifampicin approximately 0.006 mg/ml) were true positive, whereas in vitro tests (IgE, LTT and CAST) did not correctly identify hypersensitive patients. Two patients had positive accidental reexposure. All patients were successfully desensitized with rifampicin according to a slow 7-day protocol. CONCLUSIONS: Rifampicin rarely elicits immediate hypersensitivity symptoms which may be diagnosed by intradermal skin tests. In vitro tests did not contribute to the diagnosis. Therefore, an IgE-mediated mechanism remains to be proven. Desensitization with rifampicin using different protocols has been reported. In our 3 cases, clinical tolerance to rifampicin was achieved using a 7-day protocol.

Possível eficácia da dapsona na urticária crônica idiopática / Evaluation of the possible effectiveness of dapsone in the therapeutic control of chronic idiopathic urticaria

Neste trabalho, os autores fazem uma avaliaçäo da possível eficácia da dapsona no controle terapêutico da urticaria crônica idiopática