Acute Linear IgA Dermatosis in a Child Following Varicella

This report describes an acute bullous disease in a child, which was characterized, on immunofluorescent microscopy, by homogeneous linear IgA depositions along the basement membrane zone (BMZ). The clinical picture and the course of illness differed somewhat from chronic bullous disease of childhood (CBDC) and other cases of this type reported to date. 1-3 Report of a Case A 5-year-old boy was seen in our outpatient clinic for an extensive vesiculobullous eruption of three weeks' duration. A few weeks before the eruption started, he had had varicella, which was confirmed diagnostically by a substantial rise in the titer of antibody varicella antigen. The present rash had begun with severe itching. He had otherwise been quite healthy, and he had no history of atopy or gluten-sensitive enteropathy. He had been treated with phenoxymethyl penicillin and dexchlorpheniramine in the last week before admission to the hospital. Physical examination showed an afebrile boy