Can cats cause colossal contagious cutaneous carbuncles?

Sporothrix spp. cause the most common deep fungal skin infections in Brazil and this is related to infected cats. Transmission is traditionally from organic material/plants but can also be zoonotic. Culture of a skin biopsy is the golden standard for determination. Treatment with oral itraconazole approaches up to 95% efficacy in patients with cutaneous sporotrichosis.

An Unusually Large Carbuncle of the Temporofacial Region Demonstrating Remarkable Post-debridement Wound Healing Process: A Case Report.

Skin carbuncles are debilitating skin infections commonly seen in elderly patients with diabetes. These infections develop when a cluster of adjacent furuncles coalesce to form one inflammatory mass. While they commonly occur on the nape of the neck and back, rarer sites involving the face and head have been noted. Management of these rare sites is urgent because of the potential intracranial complications and the surgical outcome is often unsatisfactory due to associated facial scarring. Intraoral drainage is advocated to avoid this; however, when the carbuncle involves a larger area, debridement from the exterior is necessary. The resultant soft-tissue defect requires a skin graft or a flap for coverage, but this may still lead to an unsatisfactory cosmetic outcome. The authors report a case of a carbuncle involving an extensive area over the right temporofacial region, including its management and the remarkable post-debridement cosmetic outcome despite avoidance of plastic surgery techniques due to the patient's high risk associated with anesthesia.

Anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects of ethanol extract from Houttuynia cordata poultice.

Houttuynia cordata (HC) has been commonly used as many traditional remedies in local areas of Japan. Although many pharmacological activities of HC have been reported, the mechanism underlying the effect of HC remains unknown. We conducted the interview survey in Japan to verify how HC was actually used. The interview survey revealed that HC poultice (HCP) prepared from smothering fresh leaves of HC was most frequently used for the treatment of purulent skin diseases including furuncle and carbuncle with high effectiveness. Ethanol extract of HCP (eHCP) showed anti-bacterial effects against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and showed an anti-biofilm activity against MRSA. eHCP showed dose-dependent inhibition of S. aureus lipoteichoic acid (LTA)-induced interleukin-8 and CCL20 production in human keratinocyte without any cytotoxicity. These results suggest that HCP is effective for skin abscess and its underlying mechanism might be the complicated multiple activities for both bacteria and host cells.

Laboratory-acquired skin infections in a clinical microbiologist: Is wearing only gloves really safe?

Laboratory-acquired infection is one of the leading occupational health hazards. On a laboratory worker's hands, carbuncles occurred. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from pus samples of the carbuncles, with the same pulsed field gel electrophoresis band pattern with one of the recently studied strains in the laboratory. Incorrect or inadequate application of infection control measures may result in pathogen acquisition from the clinical samples, and wearing only gloves is not sufficient for the biosafety of laboratory workers in clinical diagnostic laboratories.

[Anthrax and carbuncle]. / Anthrax et charbon.

Anthrax is a name given in French language to two distinct infectious diseases. One corresponds to carbuncle which is a collection of boils. The other one corresponds to the English term anthrax. This condition has a clinical presentation and an outcome that vary according to the inoculation site being cutaneous, pulmonary or digestive, and to the bacterial and toxin spread in the body.

Rapp-Hodgkin syndrome with palmoplantar keratoderma, glossy tongue, congenital absence of lingual frenum and of sublingual caruncles: newly recognized findings.

We report on a boy with Rapp-Hodgkin syndrome (RHS) or Rapp-Hodgkin ectodermal dysplasia. He had sparse, wiry, slow growing and uncombable hair, but no pili torti or pili canaliculi characteristic of RHS. He also had sparse eyelashes and eyebrows, and obstructed lacrimal puncta and epiphora. Bilateral bony external auditory canal stenosis led to hearing loss. The mouth was small with repaired bilateral cleft lip and palate. Oral manifestations included hypodontia, microdontia, unerupted mandibular premolars with well formed roots, large dental pulp spaces, enamel hypoplasia, multiple caries, glossy tongue, and congenital absence of lingual frenum and of sublingual caruncles including submandibular and sublingual salivary duct openings. Palmo-plantar keratoderma, unerupted premolars, congenital absence of lingual frenum, sublingual caruncles, glossy tongue, and pili canaliculi seen in the patient are newly recognized findings of this syndrome. Overlapping findings of RHS ectrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia-clefting syndrome (EEC), and ankyloblepharon-ectodermal defects-cleft lip and palate syndrome (AEC) are discussed.

A polypous carbuncle.

A carbuncle usually presents as a deep-seated mass of fistulous tracts between infected hair follicles. We present a case in which what appeared to be an inflamed, benign neoplasm turned out to be a very unusual presentation for this condition, the first we could find in the literature. A 62-year-old woman presented with a bothersome 'mole' on her flank of uncertain duration but it was initially pruritic and irritated by her clothing. Owing to the pain, she wanted its removal. A 1 cm soft, pink, stalked papule revealed multiple, closed,, comedo-like spots on its surface (Fig. 1). The lesion was mildly tender and freely mobile on a broad-based stalk. A pre-biopsy diagnosis of irritated intradermal nevus or neurofibroma was made, and the lesion was blade-shaved flush with the skin surface. Histologically, the papule demonstrated small abscesses which seemed to connect, as well as foci of granulation tissue and marked dermal edema (Fig. 2). Fragments of infundibular epidermis were found throughout the lesion. No residual melanocytic or neural neoplasms were identified.

Carbúnculo renal / Renal carbuncle

Os autores relatam um caso de carbúnculo renal tratado com sucesso, mediante a administraçäo prolongada de oxacilina e chamam a atençäo para a importância dos métodos de diagnóstico por imagem no reconhecimento da afecçäo.