Reports on cases of Stevens-Johnson syndrome (erythema multiforme major) have seldom related it to occupational exposure to chemicals. Serious liver involvement is also uncommon. This report describes 5 cases of the syndrome who had been occupationally exposed to trichloroethylene. The circumstantial evidence suggested that the chemical might have been a causative factor in the disease. The liver was involved in all and in 3 it was serious, with one death. The degree of exposure to trichloroethylene varied. The duration of exposure ranged from 2 to 5 weeks. It seemed likely that there was a hypersensitive reaction to trichloroethylene in these cases.

No abstract

We describe the first case of lipodystrophia centrifugalis abdominalis infantilis to occur outside Japan. A 7-year-old Chinese boy presented with the classical features, which include the early onset of localized depression of the skin of the abdomen, centrifugal progression of the skin lesion and an erythematous scaling advancing edge. The subcutaneous fat is decreased in the depressed areas.

SUMMARY In a study of 13 local and four reference strains of Haemophilus ducreyi all grew well on a selective medium consisting of Bacto proteose No 3 agar (Difco), soluble starch, IsoVitalex, human blood, and vancomycin. All the strains reduced nitrate, were alkaline-phosphatasepositive, and (with one exception) used glucose, fructose, and mannose. P-lactamase was produced by 12 local strains. Erythromycin was the most effective antibiotic tested, followed by streptomycin, co-trimoxazole, and spectinomycin.

Colour developers are widely used and contact dermatitis and lichen planus-like eruptions from them are well-known. As a result of automation, there have been few recent reports of contact dermatitis from colour developers. We describe here 4 cases of dermatoses from Kodak CD4 colour developer and study their cross sensitivity to other colour developers and PPD. Attempts were made to determine the purity of the patch test allergens to ensure that cross sensitivity was not the result of contamination and decomposition of the allergens.