BACKGROUND Linear IgA bullous dermatosis is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized clinically by the presence of small tense blisters and immunologically by the presence of IgA at the dermal-epidermal junction. Idiopathic, systemic disease-related, and drug-related versions of this disorder have been described, with the latter most commonly associated with vancomycin. OBSERVATIONS We ...

Introduction: Histologic vasculitis must be interpreted with caution, as there is considerable overlap in its clinical, histologic and immunologic presentations. Case report: A 42 year old woman presented with an plaque on the buttock that was tender to palpation, and had been present for six weeks. Physical examination revealed a large, erythematous plaque with focal areas of atrophy, pigmenta...

BACKGROUND Pemphigus autoantibodies have been reported in healthy relatives of pemphigus patients suggesting a genetic predisposition in the pathogenesis of the disease. AIMS To test for the presence of pemphigus autoantibodies in healthy relatives of Turkish patients of pemphigus. METHODS The study group comprised 45 pemphigus patients, 75 unaffected family members and 47 healthy individua...

Direct and indirect immunofluorescence techniques and a culture method were compared for detection of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in lungs of experimentally infected swine. Pneumonic lungs were obtained fiam SPF pigs that had been exposed by contact 6 to 7 weeks previously to other SPF pigs which had been inoculated with the organism. A good association was found between isolation of M. hyopneumon...

Liver biopsies from 33 patients with miscellaneous liver diseases were studied by direct immunofluorescence. Three patients with active chronic hepatitis possessed a distinctive pattern of staining with anti-IgG conjugate. They were relatively young women and all three possessed the anti-smooth-muscle antibody. In addition, all three were untreated at the time of study. It is suggested that dir...