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The Roman Empire
Published in Scott M. Jackson, Skin Disease and the History of Dermatology, 2023
In Book VI, he covered rashes of the head. He was the first to describe kerion, a type of fungal infection of the scalp in children, known today as kerion Celsi. For alopecia that was not due to old age, he recommended frequent shaving of the affected area “because, when the cuticle has thus been gradually cut away, the roots of the hair are laid bare.”23 Shaving did not work for male pattern baldness, and he stated, “We have no remedy.” His explanation of porrigo, what we today call seborrheic dermatitis, gives us a glimpse into his view on the pathogenesis of skin disease: It generally occurs in the hair of the head, more rarely in the beard, now and then in the eyebrows. And neither does it take place except there be some disorder in the system, nor is it altogether without its beneficial effects, for it never appears during a perfectly healthy condition of the head; and when disease is existing there, it is advantageous; for it is better that the surface be occasionally corrupted, than that the nocent matter be translated to another part more essential to life. The better plan therefore is to clear it away by repeated combing, and not to suppress it entirely.24
The Child with Fever or a Rash
Published in Miriam Orcutt, Clare Shortall, Sarah Walpole, Aula Abbara, Sylvia Garry, Rita Issa, Alimuddin Zumla, Ibrahim Abubakar, Handbook of Refugee Health, 2021
Neal Russell, Bhanu Williams, Anna Battersby
Tinea infections are a group of fungal infections that include those known colloquially as ringworm, jock itch and athlete’s foot. Tinea capitis is a fungal skin infection more commonly known as scalp ringworm, which presents as an itchy red rash and is slowly spreading and not usually symmetrical. Kerion is an abscess caused by fungal infection that is often misdiagnosed as bacterial infection.2
Ringworm
Published in Firza Alexander Gronthoud, Practical Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2020
Tinea capitis is a ringworm infection of the scalp and most commonly affects children. The main symptoms are itching, redness and dryness of the scalp. Sometimes bald patches can occur as infected hairs are brittle and break easily. There are three types of tinea capitis: grey patch, black dot and favus. It may progress to kerion, which is characterized by boggy tender plaques and pustules. The child with tinea capitis will generally have cervical and suboccipital lymphadenopathy, and the physician may need to broaden the differential diagnosis if lymphadenopathy is absent.
Strategies to improve the diagnosis and clinical treatment of dermatophyte infections
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2023
Despite major developments in the diagnosis and treatment of dermatophytosis in economically developed countries, various complications may develop in patients from underdeveloped countries, such as African countries, due to the inability of patients with dermatophyte infections to easily access medical care and antimycotic medications [4]. Tinea capitis and tinea pedis are most commonly observed in children and young adults, respectively, whereas the incidence of onychomycosis increases with age. Tinea capitis, with a global prevalence of 200 million cases, is the primary cause of permanent baldness, particularly in poor countries, thereby indicating the remarkable extent to which fungal disease is common in this context. Even after appropriate treatment, kerion celsi causes permanent hair loss in approximately one-quarter of the affected patients [5].
The molecular immunology of human susceptibility to fungal diseases: lessons from single gene defects of immunity
Published in Expert Review of Clinical Immunology, 2019
The mycology folklore identifies that the first human fungal disease was detailed by Aulus Cornelius Celsus, likely around the first half of the first century AD: This ulcerative and suppurative scalp lesion, resembling a honeycomb, was termed ‘kerion’[19]. Of course, this attribution was based on the detailed clinical description, rather than any true mycological association. Ultimately, kerion celsi was recognized as an inflammatory type of tinea capitis, and the dermatophytic basis for it, favus (a chronic scalp infection with scutula formation), and the various other tinea capitis syndromes was first described by Johann Schönlein in 1839 and subsequently isolated by Robert Remak, who named the fungus Achorion schoenleinii, and who performed auto-inoculation experiments to prove its pathogenicity [20–22]. During this time, David Gruby independently also identified the fungal nature of favus (and similarly conducted auto-inoculation to prove disease causation), ringworm, and sycosis [23,24]. Further, Gruby identified the microbial nature of moniliasis [25]. Thus, around 1840, medical mycology was born, driven out of the need to understand the basis for some spectacular skin diseases.