GENERALIZED TRICHOPHYTON PURPUREUM INFECTION SIMULATING DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS

Abstract

We have recently observed a case of unusual and extensive infection of the skin due to Trichophyton purpureum. Until the causation was conclusively proved, dermatitis herpetiformis was considered a most probable diagnosis by a number of competent observers. REPORT OF CASE History.— A. F., a Jew aged 38, was born in Hungary and had been in the United States about fifteen months. He was a traveling dry goods salesman, was married and had two children. No other member of his family was known to have had any cutaneous eruption. He was enjoying good health until his present illness. In 1938 he underwent a tonsillectomy. He has had bleeding hemorrhoids for the past two or three years. His present illness began in 1934, while he was traveling and sleeping in unsanitary surroundings. The eruption first appeared on his thighs and back and then spread to other parts of his body. He