Related Experiment Videos
Gianotti-Crosti syndrome and human immunodeficiency virus infection
1Dermatology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.
Insights
Gianotti-Crosti syndrome (GCS), a rare skin rash, has been observed in children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This report highlights the association and potential complexities in identifying causes for HIV-associated GCS.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dermatology
- Infectious Diseases
- Immunology
Background:
- Gianotti-Crosti syndrome (GCS) is a distinct, self-limiting papular or papulovesicular eruption on the extremities, typically linked to viral infections.
- GCS has not been previously documented in individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
Observation:
- This report details two pediatric cases of GCS in children with HIV.
- Both patients exhibited clinical and histopathological features consistent with GCS.
- Case 1 showed prior cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection without active illness. Case 2 had subclinical CMV, positive Hepatitis C antibody, and active Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection.
Findings:
- This study reports Gianotti-Crosti syndrome in the context of HIV infection for the first time.
- The findings indicate a potential association between GCS and HIV, presenting unique clinical challenges.
- Etiological determination for GCS in HIV-infected patients is complicated by diverse and often subclinical co-infections.
Implications:
- Highlights the need for dermatological awareness of GCS in HIV-infected children.
- Suggests that GCS in HIV patients may arise from various concurrent or past infections.
- Emphasizes the diagnostic complexity in identifying specific triggers for GCS in this immunocompromised population.
Background:
Patients with Gianotti-Crosti syndrome (GCS) present with a distinctive self-limiting acral papular or papulovesicular eruption associated with an underlying viral illness. Gianotti-Crosti syndrome in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus has not been previously reported.
Observations:
We report on two children infected with human immunodeficiency virus who had GCS. Both patients had clinical and histopathologic findings characteristic of GCS. The first patient had evidence of prior infection with cytomegalovirus, without evidence of active viral illness. The second patient had evidence of subclinical infection with cytomegalovirus, positive hepatitis C antibody, and active infection with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare at the time the skin eruption began.
Conclusions:
We call attention to a previously unreported skin eruption, GCS, in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus infection and emphasize that determining the etiologic factors for human immunodeficiency virus-associated GCS will be difficult; such patients will probably have a variety of clinical and subclinical infections that complicate this issue.