No abstract

Two controlled, double blind field trials of a non-living promastigote vaccine against New World Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (NWCL) were conducted in 1981 and 1983 in Brazil. Brazilian Army conscripts were randomly assigned to the vaccine or placebo groups and tested during their training in the Amazon jungle, a high risk area for NWCL. The results obtained showed: no significant differences between the vaccine and the placebo groups with respect to a number of characteristics (age, race, previous contact with the jungle, etc.); no significant differences between the participants who got and who did not get NWCL during the trial, with respect to length of exposure, contact with the jungle, etc. and a reduction of 67.3 and 85.7% in the annual incidence rate of NWCL, in 1981 and 1983 respectively (although the difference between incidence rates of the disease in vaccinated and control groups in the 1983 trial was not statistically significant), among those vaccinated who had converted to a positive leishmanin skin test as compared with the placebo groups.

Leprosy is characterized by spectrum of histologically different granulomatous skin lesions that reflects the patient's immune response to Mycobacterium leprae. Presence, frequency, and distribution of both CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ T regulatory cells (T-regs) and CD123+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells in leprosy have never been investigated. We performed a retrospective immunohistochemical study on 20 cases of leprosy [tuberculoid tuberculoid (TT): 1 patient; borderline tuberculoid (BT): 3 patients; borderline lepromatous (BL): 5 patients; lepromatous lepromatous (LL): 5 patients; borderline borderline in reversal reaction (BB-RR): 1 patient; BT-RR: 2 patients; and erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL): 3 patients]. FoxP3-positive cells were present in 95% of the cases with an average density of 2.9% of the infiltrate. Their distribution was not related to granulomatous structures or special locations. There was no statistical difference of FoxP3 expression between TT, BT, BL, and LL, whereas a statistical significant increment (P = 0.042) was observed in patients affected by reversal leprosy reactions (BT-RR and BB-RR) compared with patients affected by ENL and patients with nonreactional disease forms (BL, LL, BT, TT). CD123 expression was not observed in any of the biopsy specimens evaluated; with the exception of 2 cases of ENL, in which a focal positivity for CD123 was observed. Our results show that plasmacytoid dendritic cells are not involved in the immune response against M. leprae while T-regs are present in leprosy skin lesions. These data raise the question if T-regs have a pathogenetic role in HD as previously demonstrated in Leishmania major and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Myiasis is a disease caused by infestation of fly larvae in human and other vertebrate tissues. It is a skin condition common in tropical and subtropical countries and its predisposing factors are: chronic diseases, immunodeficiency, poor hygiene, senility, psychiatric disorders, skin cancers and ulcerated mucosae. We report the case of a healthy patient who after traumatic injury of a preexisting lesion showed a tumor on the dorsal region parasitized by fly larvae. The histopathological examination performed for the diagnosis of skin neoplasm surprisingly revealed the presence of a partially degenerated larva with characteristics of Dermatobia hominis, suggesting an association of primary and secondary myiasis on basal cell carcinoma. Keywords: Carcinoma, basal cell; Myiasis; Skin neoplasms Resumo: A miíase é uma doença causada por infestação de larvas de moscas nos tecidos humanos ou de outros animais vertebrados. É dermatose comum em países tropicais e subtropicais e tem como fatores predisponentes: doenças crônicas, imunodeficiência, má higiene, senilidade, doenças psiquiá-tricas, cânceres cutâneos e de mucosas ulcerados. Relata-se caso de paciente hígido que após trauma sobre lesão pré-existente, apresentou tumoração na região dorsal parasitada por larvas de moscas. O exame histopatológico realizado para o diagnóstico da neoplasia, de modo surpreendente, evidenciou a presença de uma larva parcialmente degenerada com características de Dermatobia hominis, sugerindo associação de miíase primária e secundária em carcinoma basocelular.

Patients with deep mycoses diagnosed in dermatologic clinics of Manaus (state of Amazonas, Brazil) were studied from November 1973 to December 1983. They came from the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Pará, Acre, and Rondônia and the Federal Territory of Roraima. All of these regions, with the exception of Pará, are situated in the western part of the Amazon Basin. The climatic conditions in this region are almost the same: tropical forest, high rainfall, and mean annual temperature of 26C. The deep mycoses diagnosed, in order of frequency, were Jorge Lobo's disease, paracoccidioidomycosis, chromomycosis, sporotrichosis, mycetoma, cryptococcosis, zygomycosis, and histoplasmosis.

Acquired reactive perforating collagenosis is a perforating dermatosis usually associated with different systemic diseases, mainly diabetes mellitus and/or chronic renal insufficiency. Different therapies have been tried but treatment is not standardized yet and remains a challenge. In the last few years, allopurinol has been reported as a good therapeutic option for acquired reactive perforating collagenosis. We describe the case of a 73-year-old man affected by acquired reactive perforating collagenosis associated with diabetes type 1 and chronic renal failure with secondary hyperparathyroidism. The patient was successfully treated with allopurinol 100mg once/day p.o..

BACKGROUNDLeprosy is characterized histologically by a spectrum of different granulomatous skin lesions, reflecting patients' immune responses to Mycobacterium leprae. Although CD4+CD25+ FoxP3+ T regulatory cells are pivotal in the immuneregulation, presence, frequency, and distribution of Tregs in leprosy, its reactional states have been investigated in few studies.OBJECTIVESThis study aimed to verify the frequency and distribution of regulatory T cells in different clinical forms and reactional states of leprosy.METHODSWe performed an immunohistochemical study on 96 leprosy cases [Indeterminate (I): 9 patients; tuberculoid tuberculoid: 13 patients; borderline tuberculoid: 26 patients; borderline borderline: 3 patients; borderline lepromatous: 8 patients; lepromatous lepromatous: 27 patients; reversal reaction: 8 patients; and erythema nodosum leprosum: 2 patients].RESULTSFoxP3-positive cells were present in 100% of the cases with an average density of 2.82% of the infiltrate. Their distribution was not related to granulomatous structures or special locations. There was a statistically significant increment of FoxP3 expression in patients with leprosy reversal reactions when compared with patients presenting with type I leprosy (P= 0.0228); borderline tuberculoid leprosy (P = 0.0351) and lepromatous leprosy (P = 0.0344).CONCLUSIONSThese findings suggest that Tregs play a relevant role in the etiopathogenesis of leprosy, mainly in type I leprosy reaction.

Pyoderma gangrenosum is an uncommon ulcerative cutaneous dermatosis associated with a variety of systemic diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, hematological malignancies, hepatitis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The pathogenesis of pyoderma gangrenosum remains unknown. Its diagnosis is usually based on clinical evidence and confirmed through a process of elimination of the other possible causes of cutaneous ulcers. This report describes a case of pyoderma gangrenosum with extensive ulceration that responded well to treatment. Keywords: Diagnosis; Primary Treatment; Pyoderma gangrenosum Resumo: Pioderma gangrenoso é uma dermatose cutânea ulcerativa incomum, associada a uma variedade de doenças sistêmicas, incluindo doença inflamatória intestinal, artrites, neoplasias hematológi-cas, hepatites e aids. A sua patogênese é desconhecida. O diagnóstico geralmente é baseado em evidên-cias clínicas e confirmado com a exclusão das outras etiologias de lesões ulceradas cutâneas. Relatamos um caso de PG com ulcerações extensas com boa resposta ao tratamento.