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Two hundred and ten patients with chronic urticaria were divided into two groups; one group was treated with Loratadine 10mg daily while the other with cetirizine 10mg daily. The total duration of treatment was four weeks. Pretreatment and post-treatment evaluations were made. It was noticed that loratadine was superior to cetirizine in terms of a rapid onset of actions, overall clinical efficacy and minimal side effects.

Olmsted syndrome is characterised by mutilating palmoplantar keratoderma with peri-orificial hyperkeratosis. We report the case of an 8-year old boy who presented with severe keratoderma of the soles since birth and of the palms from the age of 3 years. At 3 years of age hyperkeratotic plaques appeared on the elbows and knees. The child developed keratotic lesions at the angle of the mouth 1 year later. The child had sparse thin easily pluckable hair. Light and scanning electron microscopic examination of the hair revealed several hair shaft abnormalities. Though the psychomotor development of the child was normal till 1 year of age, thereafter the keratoderma had largely restricted the child′s mobility. There was no history of hyperhidrosis and no dental abnormality was detected. The lesions had been unresponsive to keratolytics and had recurred after surgical removal. The patient was started on oral retinoids and topical keratolytics and had partially responded in 2 months.

Several occupational hazards especially exposure to silica have been implicated as eliciting factors for the development of scleroderma-like disorders. We here report a case of manual stone-cutter who developed progressive scleroderma, interstitial lung disease and decreased oesophageal motility after several years of exposure to silica dust.

A patient with pityriasis lichenoides chronica (PLC) during the course of her skin disease developed tuberculosis of cervical lymph nodes. Anti-tuberculosis treatment resulted in remission of PLC. Mycobacterium tuberculosis could be one of the triggering agent in pityriasis lichenoides.

Currently available therapy for condyloma acuminata (genital warts) is not consistently effective. Interferon (IFN) has both antiproliferatve and antiviral properties and has been used to treat genital warts with varying degree of success. We conducted an open study on 6 male patients with genital warts. A single wart of comparable area from each patient was injected with 2 x 106 IU of IFN alpha-2b, 3 times weekly for 3 weeks. The response to treatment was assessed during the therapy and at 1, 5 and 9 weeks after the completion of treatment. Two of the injected lesions showed complete regression and in 2, there was a moderate reduction in size but not a complete regression. In 2 patients there was appearance of new lesions while still on therapy and only a slight reduction tn the size of injected lesions. All patients tolerated the therapy well and in none treatment had to be discontinued due to adverse reactions. The preliminary trial suggests that intralesional IFN is not a superior alternate to the currently available modalities of treatment in genital warts. High cost of the therapy is another limiting factor.

Recurrent genital herpes (RGH) is a difficult condition to treat. Oral acyclovir therapy has been shown to have a definite role in suppressing the recurrent episodes of the disease. Most studies, however, are available from the West. We report our experience with oral acyclovir therapy. Ten patients of RGH with more than 8 episodes/year received acylovir in the dose of 200 mg thrice daily for 6 months. They were followed up for a period ranging from 6 months to 3.5 years. Eight patients stayed symptom-free while on therapy and during the follow-up period. One patient showed a recurrence while on treatment and another 4 months after stopping treatment. No adverse effects were seen in any of the patients.

The study was undertaken to compare the pre-menstrual and post-menstrual profile of women with adolescent acne. The non-inflammatory and inflammatory acne lesions in thirty two women patients with adolescent acne were counted at weekly intervals over a total of 96 menstrual periods. The mean of the acne lesions in the pre-menstrual phase was compared with that in the post-menstrual phase. In 67.71% of the periods observed, there was a decrease in the noninflammatory acne lesions. There was a mean reduction in the non-inflammatory and inflammatory lesions count of 2.30±4.89 and 3.69±2.92 respectively and this reduction was statistically highly significant (p< 0.0001). These findings corroborate the general notice that there is an improvement of acne in the post-menstrual phase.

BACKGROUND: Drugs used in PKDL include parenteral sodium antimony gluconate (SAG), amphotericin-B, pentamidine, and ketoconazole (KTZ). SAG is the most effective one. Given alone, SAG has to be given for a long duration, leading to poor patient compliance and treatment failure. This study was carried out to compare the effectiness of SAG alone and a combination of SAG and KTZ for sixty days. METHODS: Ten patients of PKDL were included in the study. Five patients (Group A) were given SAG intravenously, in the dose of 20 mg/kg per day and five (Group B) were given SAG (intravenously 20 mg/kg per day) and KTZ (200 mg twice daily orally). Both treatment regimens were given for sixty days. RESULTS: In Group A, the nodules and/or plaques showed approximate 80-85% clinical improvement, and macules showed 25-30% improvement. In group B (SAG + KTZ), there was 90-95% clinical improvement in the nodules and/or plaques and 25-30% in macules. CONCLUSION: This study suggests the therapeutic superiority of the combination treatment regimen in a shorter duration but is not conclusive as the number of patients was low. Further trials are recommended.