Cutaneous Manifestations of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases in Children

Primary immunodeficiency diseases (pids) are rare but include severe conditionsfound predominantly in children, most pids have cutaneous manifestations that may beimportant as early diagnostic features.the purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and nature of cutaneousalterations associated with pids.this article is a cross-sectional study at the department of allergy and clinicalimmunology of children's medical center conducted between december 5, 2001 andapril 20, 2002. the subjects included pediatric patients with a diagnosis of pid anddermatological diagnoses were made by a dermatologist.two hundred and ten patients were studied they consisted of 68 cases of humoraldeficiency, 22 cases of cellular and combined deficiencies, 57 cases of phagocytic defectsand 63 cases of other pids. in 67 cases (31.8%) the cutaneous alterations preceded andwere the basis for clinical immunological diagnosis. overall cutaneous alterations wereinfections in 99 cases and eczematous dermatitis in 27 cases.our findings support the results of other studies that most pids have cutaneousfeatures which being their typical aspects are highly suggestive for the diagnosis of pids.