ABSTRACT
Background: Annular erythema is a rare manifestation of leukocytoclastic vasculitis. It may be associated with various drugs, infections, malignancies, or systemic diseases. Case description: A 36-year-old woman with no personal medical history presented with annular erythema with target lesions and petechial purpura. The patient had fever and joint arthralgia. A skin biopsy showed leukocytoclastic vasculitis with IgA deposits on direct immunofluorescence. The diagnosis of immunoglobulin A vasculitis with annular leukocytoclastic vasculitis was made. The patient showed global improvement with topical steroids without relapse. Conclusion: An annular variant of leukocytoclastic vasculitis is a rare manifestation of immunoglobulin A vasculitis. LEARNING POINTS: Annular erythema may reveal an IgA vasculitis.Annular leukocytoclastic vasculitis is a rare manifestation of IgA vasculitis.This presentation is treated with topical steroids.
ABSTRACT
Dieback and wilting symptoms caused by complex soilborne fungi are nowadays the most serious threatening disease affecting olive trees (Olea europaea) in Tunisia and presumably in many Mediterranean basin countries. Fusarium is one of the important phytopathogenic genera associated with dieback symptoms of olive trees. The objective of the present study was to confirm the pathogenicity of Fusarium spp. isolated from several olive-growing areas in Tunisia. According to the pathogenic test done on young olive trees (cv. Chemlali), 23 out of 104 isolates of Fusarium spp. were found to be pathogenic and the others were weakly or not pathogenic. The pathogenic Fusarium spp. isolates were characterized using molecular methods based on ITS PCR. Isolation results revealed the predominance of Fusarium solani (56.5%) and F. oxysporum species (21.7%) compared to F. chalmydosporum (8.7%), F. brachygibbosum (8.7%) and F. acuminatum (4.34%). Based on pathogenicity test, disease severity was highly variable among the 23 pathogenic isolates tested (P < 0.05) where F. solani was the most aggressive dieback agent. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that shows that Fusarium spp. might be a major agent causing dieback disease of olive trees in Tunisia.