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Many favorable reports have been published following the administration of para-amino salicylic acid (PAS) in the treatment of visceral tuberculosis. Encouraging results have also been obtained in some cases of cutaneous tuberculosis. The toxic reactions of the drug are usually mild. They are manifested by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, gastralgia, fever, and alterations of the urinary tract.

2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (hereafter to be called TPTC) is a white crystalline compound, soluble in water, alcohol, acetone and chloroform and insoluble in ether (1). Its solution is colorless but when reduced it forms a water-insoluble, alcohol and acetone-soluble dark red compound known as triphenyl formazan. TPTC is reduced by strong reducing agents, active metals in acid solution and some sugars in alkaline solution. The reducing sugars form the red formazan only above pH 11.0. The color change has been used in a qualitative test for reducing compounds (2) and in a quantitative colorimetric determination (3) for certain reducing sugars. TPTC in solution is not affected by boiling but is photosensitive (4) and will be reduced by exposure to direct sunlight or ultraviolet irradiation from a mercury arc lamp. The following shows the chemical change undergone by TPTC when reduced to the red formazan: 2, 3, 5 - Triphenyl Triphenyl Formazan Tetrazolium Chloride C6H6-N------N+ Cl- +2e +2H+ HN-N=C-N=N +HC1 N N-----------------------* c H CsHg Tetrazolium salts were first prepared by Pechman and Runge in 1894 (5). Kuhn and Jerchel (6a, b) in 1941 found that a humber of tetrazolium salts which they synthesized could be reduced by bacteria, yeasts and germinating seeds and that these would be stained red by the reduced compound. Lakon (7a, b) in 1942 used TPTC as a substitute for the toxic sodium selenite in testing the germinating ability of seeds.

In performing transplantations of hair into places scarred and depigmented by discoid lupus erythematosus, it was found that considerable repigmentation in addition to growth of viable hairs was achieved.

• A 56-year-old woman developed a vesicular and bullous eruption followed by an efflorescence of lichenoid papules. The clinical and histologic features of this case were consistent with a diagnosis of lichen planus pemphigoides. Direct and indirect immunofluorescence studies demonstrated both in vivo-bound and circulating IgG with specificity for the epidermal basement membrane zone. A common pathogenic immunologic mechanism may exist for both lichen planus and lichen planus pemphigoides, which we believe are clinical variants of a similar disease process. ( Arch Dermatol 112:1280-1283, 1976)

INTRODUCTION A RECENT article by Kierland 1 on the subject of military dermatology emphasizes the importance of dermatitis of the feet, with the many disabling weeks of illness that can ensue. He underlines how very little effective research in the prevention and cure of these dermatoses has been undertaken to date. We, in dealing with a civilian population, have also been struck by the large number of patients seen with disabling dermatosis of the feet, disabling enough to warrant hospitalization. We have seen patients who have suffered recurrent attacks of dermatitis of the feet for years. To appreciate the real problem not only must one see the patient who cannot walk because of localized, oozing, painful lesions of the feet, but one must also see the patient who has developed a secondary generalized dermatitis. One must also see such patients with the cellulitis, lymphangitis and lymphadenitis, thrombophlebitis, and even

Introduction The relationship of Reiter's syndrome and gonococcal keratosis blennorrhagica has intrigued us for a long time. Whenever a case of Reiter's syndrome with an associated keratoderma is presented at a dermatological meeting, an endless discussion arises as to the differential diagnosis. To add to the confusion, the diagnosis of arthropathic psoriasis is usually thrown into the discussion for good measure. Keratosis blennorrhagica, first described by Vidal19in 1893, is a syndrome of urethritis, arthritis, and often a conjunctivitis, associated with peculiar and characteristic skin lesions. Its gonorrheal origin was well established by Buschke2and others. As occasional cases appeared presenting the characteristic syndrome without gonorrheal infection, it became increasingly evident, even to Buschke,3that other agents might also be responsible for the development of this clinical picture. Case reports of "keratosis blennorrhagica without gonorrhea" began to appear, variously interpreted as a complication of nonspecific genitourinary infections

Several years ago we accidentally observed a bright-red fluorescence of a lesion of the genitocrural area under the Wood light. The lesion was a dry, reddish-brown plaque with sharply demarcated borders, no papules or vesicles, and slight, powdery scaling. Clinically, the lesion was typically that of erythrasma, and microscopic examination of the skin scrapings under oil immersion showed short, delicate, branching filaments and small coccoid forms characteristic of Nocardia minutissima, the causative agent of erythrasma. Repeated examinations over a period of a month, with care taken to avoid any local applications so as to obviate the possibility of fluorescence due to foreign substances such as medicaments, did not show any change in the appearance of the fluorescence. We have since used the Wood light on all lesions of the genitocrural and axillary areas resembling erythrasma or tinea cruris. No lesion of tinea cruris, proved by microscopic examination, or of

THE IMPORTANCE of arthropods as possible transmitters of pathogenic organisms is well known in general medicine. 1 The dermatologist occasionally sees a patient suffering from a systemic disease with cutaneous manifestations in which an arthropod has served as a vector of the disease. However, he sees far more patients with cutaneous diseases in which an arthropod is the etiological agent. The dermatologist is expected to have a knowledge of the symptomatology of these diseases and in general can arrive at a diagnosis as to the nature of the dermatosis. In many of the dermatoses due to the arthropods he may not be able to determine the causative parasite by mere inspection, but the general pattern of the eruption may be sufficient to give him a clue as to the nature of the agent. We feel that the dermatologist who deals with these various conditions should have at least an

Introduction Cushing's syndrome, whether it reflects primary adrenal cortical hyperfunction, or hypercorticalism secondary to pituitary basophilism, is a rare disease. A review of the records at the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital for the period 1948—1958 produced a total of only eight such cases. During this period the hospital was averaging approximately 9,300 admissions annually, underlining the rarity of this syndrome. Extensive mycotic cutaneous infection due to Trichophyton rubrum is uncommon in a temperate climate such as that of the northeastern United States. We are referring to the widespread infection rather than the localized variety of dermatomycosis, which may have started as a tinea cruris or tinea pedis and spread to involve the adjoining buttocks or feet. One probably does not see more than one or two new cases a year of a generalized T. rubrum infection in a New York City dermatologic center. The rarity of

We have recently seen a case of dermatitis venenata due to potassium undecylenate. We have been unable to find any previous report of dermatitis venenata due to undecylenic acid or its salts. In view of the widespread use of these substances in the local treatment of dermatophytosis, we feel that the possibility of one of these agents producing a contact dermatitis should be made known. REPORT OF A CASE J. B., a 52-year-old white man, had intermittent scaling and itching between the toes. He applied timofax® ointment (a cream containing 10% undecylenic acid as free acid and potassium salt) to the feet on two successive days, and on the third day the dorsa of the feet became erythematous, edematous, and exudative. Application of the ointment was discontinued, and there was gradual healing with soothing local therapy. There were slight residual erythema and fissuring at the base of the left

IN JANUARY 1944, streptomycin, a new antibiotic agent, was described by Waksman, Bugie and Schatz. 1 Different toxic reactions to the drug have since been reported 2 such as neurotoxic action on the eighth nerve and histamine-like reactions. The minor toxic effects include cutaneous rashes, malaise and fever. The cutaneous reactions have been erythema nodosum and toxic erythema, morbilliform in type. 3 To our knowledge contact dermatitis has not previously been reported. REPORT OF A CASE A white woman aged 32, who was a nurse working at the Veterans Hospital, Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, New York, on a ward in which a research study of streptomycin is in progress, reported to the outpatient clinic on Feb. 17, 1947, complaining of itching, swelling and redness of the eyelids and sides of the neck. The disease was diagnosed as contact dermatitis, and the patient was given "pyribenzamine hydrochloride" N.N.R. (tripelennamine hydrochloride), 50 mg.