[A sign of the changing times: neonatal scabies]. / Un segno dei tempi che cambiano: scabbia neonatale.

Scabies is an itchy-parasitic cutaneous infection; it can spread from person to person directly or through clothing, sheets or mattresses. The incidence had fallen a lot during the last ten years, but recently it is growing up again; this is due to immigration of people coming from countries where local hygienic and social conditions are very poor. In this contest it is more frequent to observe the infection in pediatric age, sometimes also newborn. In this particular case the diagnosis can be more difficult because the clinical manifestations are different from pathognomonic lesions we usually see in adult age. We report the clinical case of a newborn, 30-day-old, born in Italy from an Indian family. When the baby was admitted in our department she looked in good physical conditions but she presented a pustular dermatitis all over the body, scalp excluded. The presence in the mother of typical skin lesion and baby's eosinophilia at blood test, induced us to suspect the diagnosis of scabies. However, both the search for acarus at optical microscope on a skin sample obtained with "scarification" and clinical response to a treatment with PAF, were unsuccessful. Moreover, we found in the baby a persistent trombopenia; this fact induced us to think of other hypothesis. Finally the child's positive response to permethrina topical treatment and normalization of the number of platelets let us confirm the initial diagnosis of scabies.

[Linear IgA bullous dermatosis: the importance of a correct differential diagnosis]. / Dermatosi bollosa a IgA lineari: l'importanza di una corretta diagnosi differenziale.

Linear IgA bullous dermatosis is an acquired subepidermal blistering disease which belongs to bullous autoimmune diseases, along with dermatitis herpetiformis and bullous pemphigoid. Inflammatory blisters are the main clinical characteristics and the areas of common involvement are: perioral region, abdomen, perineum, buttocks and the interior side of thighs. Essential for the diagnosis is to find by direct immunofluorescence the presence of a linear band of IgA antibodies at the level of the basement membrane. We present the case of a 5 year-old Moroccan girl which arrived at our First Aid Department for bullous dermatitis, localized mainly on the abdomen, legs and thighs. During a short stay in Morocco, a month before, the little girl was stung by an insect and developed bullous dermatitis by a residual lesion. The child was in a good state of health but blood exams showed an increase of total IgE antibodies. The girl was admitted and during her hospitalisation we made a skin biopsy which led to a diagnosis of linear IgA dermatosis. She began a steroid therapy and there was a progressive regression of the lesions. At present, she does not take medicines anymore, she feels well and is submitted to ambulatory medical follow-up.