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We report on a patient presenting with cutaneous leucocytoclastic vasculitis in association with sarcoidosis. Detailed investigations did not show evidence of infectious or neoplastic diseases. Vasculitis was therefore considered to be secondary to sarcoidosis. A review of 4 other previously reported cases reveals a common presentation with the association of vasculitic skin lesions with deep cutaneous nodules, mediastinal lymph nodes and arthritis. The role of antibody response in leucocytoclastic vasculitis is discussed.

Mycobacterium szulgai is a newly recognised species of mycobacteria whose pathogenicity in man can only be confirmed following certain criteria. We report a new observation comprising three points of interest. M. szulgai appears to be directly responsible for pulmonary infection and the clinical and radiological progress is very rapid. The human disease probably comes from infected water in aquaria. We have reviewed other cases of M. szulgai in the literature and for two out of three amongst these there is pulmonary involvement resembling tuberculosis; in the other cases cutaneous disease, synovial disease and bone disease have been described.

A 62-year old smoker and alcoholic woman with chronic obstructive lung disease was admitted for suppurative pneumonia with cavitation and developed an intracavitary aspergilloma less than 2 months after the first signs of pneumonia. In view of the short time elapsed between the aspergilloma and the onset of suppurative pneumonia, 2 possibilities are discussed: either an aspergilloma developed unusually early in the cavity of a recent pulmonary abscess, or the patient had a chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis diagnosed at an early stage, which would account for all the manifestations observed.