2001 Volume 111 Issue 11 Pages 1577-1582
A 9-year-old boy was admitted to our Department of Dermatology on June 14th, 2000, with erosion of the lip and eyelid mucous membrane, vesicle formation on the face and chest, severe erythema, and high fever (more than 39°C). For several days, he had taken on medication (acetoaminofen and antibacterial drugs) for common cold-like symptoms such as chills, nausea, and fever (38°C). A drug eruption with tonsillitis was suspected. After we started him on intravenous hydrocortisone and subsequent dexamethasone (10 mg/day), the eruption resolved with desquamation. Histopatholigical features of the lesion revealed focal hydropic and vacuolar degeneration of epidermal basal cells and vesicle formation with exocytosis of mononuclear cells. The eruption was completely resolved by the end of August. The result of the drug lymphocyte stimulation test were 8.5 times higher than the control for acetoaminofen, although the skin scrach patch test was negative. HHV-6 infection is also thought to be involved in this case, because of a positive finding in DNA (PCR) method.
