Prevalence of skin diseases among students with disabilities in Mansoura, Egypt

Children with disabilities may be particularly susceptible to skin disorders, therefore the aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of skin disease among such children in Mansoura, Egypt. A total of 636 students with disabilities [76 blind, 446 deaf-mute and 114 mentally retarded] and 720 sex and age matched students [control] who did not have these disabilities were given a thorough dermatological examination. We found 89.5% of blind students, 99.3% of deaf students and 100% of mentally retarded students had 1 or more skin diseases [both infectious and non-infectious] in comparison to 24.2% of the control group. Strict hygienic measures, periodic skin examination and health education of persons caring for students with disabilities are recommended

Neutrophil chemotaxis and killing function in patients with recurrent furunculosis

Furuncle is an acute, usually necrotic, infection of a hair follicle with Staph. aureus. Chemotaxis in one of the initial host responses to staphylococcal invasion. Disorders of PMNs motility are rare but when present are associated with recurrent infections. In the present study, PMNs chemotaxis and killing function were assessed in 40 patients with recurrent furunculosis and 10 controls. This study revealed that, the chemotactic response of PMNs to zymosan activated serum was significantly higher in patients with active furunculosis than controls. However, there was no significant statistical difference between neutrophil killing function of patients and controls. Therefore, it was concluded that there is no basic cellular defect of the neutrophil in the studied patients

Leprosy in Dakahlia Governorate

Leprosy is one of the major public health problem of the developing countries.The aim of this research is to study leprosy in our locality.The data were obtained from Mansoura Leprosaria. The total number of patients was 525 with predominance of males over females.The highest incidence of the disease had been observed in the age group >15-45 years. Most of the cases were coming from rural areas. Tuberculoid leprosy was the most common type. The percentage of infected contacts was 2.35% of total patients

Human T-lymphotropic viruses [HTLVs] in mycosis fungoides

The direct or indirect involvement of retroviruses with the development of leukaemia/lymphoma has been well established in animals and human.Mycosis fungoides, a rare form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, is suspected of having a viral etiology on the basis of certain similarities to adult T-cell leukaemia, which is associated with human T-cell leukaemia/ lymphoma virus type I [HTLV-1] infection. We have searched for HTLV-1, HIV-1 and HIV-2 antigens in the skin lesions and the antibodies in the sera of 3patients with mycosis fungoides. In one patient the skin lesion expressed HTLV-1 related antigen and by PCR we could detect HTLV-1 specific DNA in PBMCs of this patient this result could support the causative role of HTLV-1 in mycosis fungoides

Prevalence of skin diseases among school students in Mansoura, Egypt

This study was carried out to determined the prevalence of skin disease among school students [6-18 years] in Mansoura Egypt. The sample of population for this survey was 2586 students representing 1.4% of the total number of students in Mansoura schools 723[27.69%] of the studied group had one or more skin diseases. Infective skin diseases were present in 18.17% and non infective skin diseases in 17.22% of students. The most prevalent infective skin diseases were pediculosis capitis [11.71%], scabies [2.59%] and fungal infection [1.89%].The prevalence of these common infective skin diseases was studied in relation to residence, age, sex, overcrowding and socioeconomic standard. The most prevalent non infective skin diseases were acne vulgaris [6.41%], pityriasis alba [3.05%] and dandruff [2.82%].The prevalence of these non infective skin diseases was studied in relation to sex and age of student

Complement and neutrophil chemotaxis in some dermatophytic infections

In this study assessment complement and neutrophil functions were done for 45 cases and 10 healthy controls to evaluate the capacity of different dermatophytes to activate complement and stimulate neutrophil chemotaxis and to detect the results of the interaction of the serum and neutrophil with the fungus. We found that dermatophytes can activate complement and stimulate neutrophil chemotaxis. We could suggest the complement activation a resulting influx of polymorpho leukocytes may stop fungal invasion and the close adherence of neutrophil to fungal hyphae although no sufficient to kill hyphae probably damage the hyphal cell wall and inhibits growth. Also, defective neutrophil chemotaxis motaxis which was found in patients with chronic dermatophytosis was not found to be due to deficiency complement components, this defect could be corrected by: Prompt antifungal therapy as the fungal products could alter neutrophil functions. Correction of the associated conditions [e.g. diabetes mellitus].Trials of levamisole, cimetidine ascorbic acids in conjunction with the antifungal therapy in the treatment of the chronic dermatophytosis patients