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Relatively little is known about the occurrence of neurocysticercosis in northeastern Brazil. There have been no published reports from the state of Ceará, but a review of the records at the Hospital São José in Fortaleza, Brazil identified 119 patients with neurocysticercosis diagnosed between January 1988 and April 1994. Patients came from 43 municipalities in Ceará. Their ages ranged from five to 74 years; the greatest number of cases were in persons 10-40 years of age; 63% were males. Seizures were the presenting complaint in 64% of the patients and headache in 22%. Two patients, each with several hundred intracranial lesions, presented with mental status changes; one was initially given the clinical diagnosis of viral meningoencephalitis. Computed tomography scans showed that 44% of the patients had five or more lesions. Cysts were found throughout the brain. The parietal lobe was the most frequent site of involvement; 85% of patients had one or more lesions there. The brain stem was involved in 8%. There was no consistent association between the severity of the clinical abnormalities and the radiologic findings. Computed tomography of the thighs was done in 10 persons; cysts were identified in nine.

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. A patchy distribution has been suggested as a partial explanation of this variation in incidence (Brow et al., 1971;Scott and Losowsky, 1975). It has also been proposed (Fry et al., 1972;Stevens et al., 1975) (1972; 1974) have used the increased interepithelial lymphocyte count as an index of mucosal abnormality.In studying the skin lesions of DH Pierard and Whimster (1961) laid down criteria which they considered characteristic of the disorder. Subsequent studies (Lever, 1965;Connor et al., 1972) suggested that these criteria, although characteristic of DH, were not in fact pathognomonic. Recent studies Seah and Fry, 1975) propose that the finding of IgA in the dermal papillae of unaffected skin is the simplest and most reliable way of establishing the diagnosis.In the light of these developments we reviewed 18Received for publication 17 March 1977 clinically diagnosed, dapsone-treated patients with DH. Having confirmed the diagnosis by finding IgA in the dermal papillae of unaffected skin in all patients we withdrew dapsone and examined by biopsy both the affected skin (on the reappearance of the rash) and the small bowel in each patient. The purpose of the study was to see whether there was a correlation between the severity of the lesions in the skin and in the small bowel mucosa. Patients and methods Eighteen patients (11 men, 7 women) aged from 17 to 73 years were studied. Their DH had initially been diagnosed on the appearance, site, and pruritic nature of the rash together with its response to dapsone. They had been treated for periods varying from three months to 16 years and all were on a normal diet.The period between withdrawal of dapsone and the appearance of the rash varied from four days to eight weeks. Tissue from maculopapular or vesicular skin lesions was taken for biopsy under local anaesthesia from the elbow region and processed for routine microscopy. Punch (4 mm) biopsy specimens of unaffected skin were taken under local anaesthesia from the extensor surface of the forearm distal to the elbow and at least 2 cm from the site of biopsy of affected skin. These specimens were snap frozen and examined by direct immunofluorescence using monospecific fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) conjugated anti-human IgG, IgM, and IgA. 976 on 11 May 2018 by guest. Protected by copyright.

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