Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Santoro, S
• Cortelazzi, C
• Santini, M
• Santilli, D
• Pepe, C A
• Castagnetti, S
• Zambito-Spadaro, F
• De Panfilis, G
• Fabrizi, G

Titel

Systemic lupus erythematosus developing immediately after necrotizing fasciitis

Ist Teil von

• Giornale italiano di dermatologia e venereologia, 2012-10, Vol.147 (5), p.499

Ort / Verlag

Italy

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a medical-surgical emergency characterized by severe bacterial infection that affects the subcutaneous tissue and spreads to the underlying fascia; usually it is caused by penetrating trauma, sometimes by surgical therapy, very rarely by minor insults such as insect bites. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a potentially fatal autoimmune disease involving virtually all the key components of the immune system. Although cases of post-infection autoimmunity were already described, a literature search using Pub Med and Medline revealed that SLE was never reported to occur in patients affected, immediately before, with NF. We observed and herein report, however, a case of a woman showing an insect-bite-induced NF, which was immediately followed by the development of a SLE. In conclusion, this case of postinfection autoimmunity provides early evidence of a patient developing SLE immediately after NF, and suggests that caution in the follow-up of NF is necessary, because NF might favor the development of a severe autoimmunity.