Dermatitis herpetiformis : its relation to so-called impetigo herpetiformis / by Louis A. Duhring.

  • Duhring, Louis A., 1845-1913.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dermatitis herpetiformis : its relation to so-called impetigo herpetiformis / by Louis A. Duhring. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences for October, 1884. DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS: ITS RELATION TO SO-CALLED IMPETIGO HERPETIFORMIS. By LOUIS A. DUHRING, M.D., Professor of Skin Diseases in the University of Pennsylvania.1 In a recent communication made before the American Medical Asso¬ ciation I described a remarkable disease of the skin under the name der¬ matitis herpetiformis. The observations there recorded are the result of many years’ study upon this subject, several of the cases from which my data were derived having been under surveillance for a number of years, and it is this fact, in my opinion, which makes the notes especially valuable. Had the notes of any one of these cases been confined to the condition as shown by a single attack, we certainly should have had a very different idea of the process as a whole from that which is now held. In the study of diseases of the skin the natural course of the process must not be lost sight of. We cannot make the diagnosis in all cases from the presence of the lesion alone ; we must note further its evolution and general charac¬ teristics. This remark is especially applicable to multiform or protean diseases, such, for example, as the affection under consideration. Permit me first to state briefly what dermatitis herpetiformis stands for, according to my definition. It is a well-defined disease characterized by a variety of symptoms, which, although they appear dissimilar, and per¬ haps in no way related at first sight, will sooner or later be found to be but different expressions of one process. It is one of the rarer cutaneous manifestations, only one variety of which has been heretofore carefully described, namely, the pustular, by Hebra, under the name of impetigo herpetiformis. The disease in severe cases is ushered in with more or less consti¬ tutional and febrile disturbance, characterized by malaise, shiverings, alternate hot and cold sensations or fever. Itching or burning is early 1 Read before the American Dermatological Association, at its eighth annual meeting, August 27, 1884.