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The authors report a case of Woringer-Kolopp syndrome. This was a rare form with multiple cutaneous features with a typical clinical and histological appearance. Ultrastructural study revealed the presence of granules with an opaque centre in the cytoplasm of the abnormal cells, and the close relationship of the latter with neurites. On the basis of these characteristics, they may be likened to the Merkel cells of the epidermis. Thus Woringer-Kolopp disease could be related to the proliferation of Merkel cells.

We have studied the incidence of internal malignant neoplasms on patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This incidence has been compared to expected number of malignant neoplasm in that population by a precise statistical analysis. Two-hundred and eighty-three SCC confirmed by histology are diagnosed on 235 patients (159 men, 76 women). These patients have been followed between December 1970 and November 1982 at the specialized consultation on cutaneous tumors. We have examined all these patients, questioned their doctors, consulted their medical case history, to search an internal malignant neoplasm. Twenty-eight patients had a malignant neoplasm: this malignant tumor has been found 11 times before and 17 times at the same time or after SCC. These 17 malignant neoplasms are the only statistically interesting cases. The annual incidence of malignant neoplasms related to age and sex has been evaluated by consulting French registers. The French incidence has been compared to foreign incidences. This incidence enables us to calculate the expected observed numbers (12 and 5). The expected numbers are 9.15 for men and 2.1 for women. These numbers are not statistically different from observed numbers (12 and 5). The incidence of internal malignant neoplasms on patients with SCC is not different from the incidence of general population.

We report a new case of acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in a 43 year-old white homosexual man, characterized by the association of disseminated cutaneo-mucous Kaposi's sarcoma and cerebral toxoplasmosis. This man had Kaposi's sarcoma for about 10 years but evolution became quickly extensive in July 1981. Chlorambucil was prescribed at that time and was the cause of a pancytopenia. Death occurred in July 1982 due to a cerebral mass identified as toxoplasmosis on a left temporal biopsy. This observation is typical of AIDS, a new syndrome which suddenly developed in the last 2 years in the United States in homosexual men, Haitians and hemophiliacs, and is characterized by disseminated Kaposi's sarcoma and/or opportunistic infections, with a very high mortality rate. Severe toxoplasmosis of CNS has been reported in AIDS and appears to result from defects in cellular immunity which permit recrudescence of latent infection. Cerebral biopsy is necessary for the diagnosis of cerebral toxoplasmosis as seroconversion occurs infrequently in immuno-suppressed hosts. AIDS appeared in Western Europe in 1982. Most of the cases were reported in France, Denmark, Belgium and Great Britain. These cases differ from reported cases in the USA: fewer drug or poppers users, fewer homosexual men, an important number of people having lived or travelled in the Kaposi's endemic area (Mediterranean basin and Central Africa). The immunological profile of patients presenting AIDS in Europe doesn't seem to differ from the american profile: serious cellular immunodeficiency and marked increase in the suppressor/cytotoxic cell population. As in the United States, one may suspect, among several hypotheses, that it is caused by one or several transmissible agents now present in France. The nature of these agents, transmissible by sexual contacts and blood, is not yet known: the role of the CMV is now less probable and most of the studies look for the role of other factors such as the HTLV.

A 48-year-old woman with poikiloderma atrophicans vasculare was treated with topical mechlorethamine, applied three times weekly, for eight years. After five years treatment she developed nine melanocytic naevi on covered skin. The naevi spread for the next three years and a surgical excision was performed. Pathological examination revealed one level II SSM, one level I SSM and seven junctional naevi with focal dysplasia or melanocytic hyperplasia. The development of melanoma and dysplastic naevi after topical mechlorethamine has not been previously reported. However it seems likely that mechlorethamine was the causative agent. As for the mechlorethamine's imputability in this case, we have used a method combining intrinsic identification of adverse drug responsibility's score, based on the clinical case and on extrinsic identification based on literature evaluation. We suggest that mechlorethamine could act as UV light.