Herpes Gestationis.

Herpes gestationis in Mother and Erythemato-Pustulous Rash in the Newborn with Positive Direct Immunofluorescence

“…Her baby had an ex tensive eruption with IgG and complement deposit on the dermo-epidermal junction compatible with the diagnosis of herpes gestationis. We found only 16 observations in the scientific literature concerning a pos sible transmission of the disease to the child [1,[4][5][6][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], The skin lesions may be present at birth [6,9], or may occur later, un til the 5th day of life [10], The pattern of these lesions is variable: features of bullous pemphigoid of the scalp [6], a few bullae [11] or vesicles on the chin [9], typical herpes gestationis [8,12], severe bullous dermatosis [13], transient rash preceding the onset of polycyclic papules forming vesicles 8 days later [4], lesions of erythema multiforme [10] on lower limbs, 3-cm-wide annular erythematous bands with blistering evolu tion [13], or discrete facial erythematous papules [1] with a few pustules.…”

“…In our observation, the pus tulous evolution does not rule out the di agnosis of herpes gestationis since it has been occasionally reported [1,15]. Russel and Thorne [1] described a pustulous erup tion in a child born from a woman who first appeared to have pemphigoid gestationis, which then developed into a pustulosis.…”

“…Herpes gestationis, also called pem phigoid gestationis, is a rare disease occur ring during pregnancy or post partum, the incidence of which ranges from 1 in 4,000 to 1 in 60,000 pregnancies [1,2].…”

Herpes Gestationis

“…Since the first description of the disease there has been disagreement regard ing the relation between h. g. and derm atitis herpetiformis. Only a few cases of pregnancy in patients with derm atitis herpetiformis have been reported [1,6,10,15,17], but in most of them the disease im proved or disappeared during pregnancy. As in derm atitis herpeti formis eruptions may be provoked by iodides.…”

“…Some authors have interpreted the disease as a result of sensitiza tion to an abnormal m etabolite or endocrine product produced in pregnancy, puerperium , and for a while prem enstrually [17,18]. In a few cases [8,14] a reduced histam inasc activity and an elevated blood level of histam ine have been found.…”