Articles: vasculitis-etiology.
-
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a well-known worldwide infection, responsible for hepatic and extrahepatic complications. Among extrahepatic manifestation, the rheumatologic are the most common ones. With the arrival of Direct Antiviral Agents (DAA), the treatment and the clinical perspective have rapidly changed, permitting to achieve a sustained virological response (SVR) and preventing complications of chronic infection. ⋯ Chronic HCV infection is responsible for complex clinical condition, ranging from hepatic to extra-hepatic disorders. Cryoglobulins are the result of this prolonged immune system stimulation, caused by tropism of HCV for B-lymphocyte.
-
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a hepatotropic virus that causes hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Twenty percent of HBV patients may develop extra-hepatic manifestations, such as polyarthritis nodosa, glomerulonephritis, dermatitis, poly-arthralgia and arthritis, and aplastic anemia. The association of HBV and cryoglobulinemic vasculitis (CV) has been highlighted by several epidemiological investigations. ⋯ In patients with severe vasculitis and/or skin ulcers, peripheral neuropathy and glomerulonephritis treatment with rituximab (RTX) and NAs should be considered as a first line treatment. The long-term administration of low-medium glucocorticoid doses has been widely used in few studies to control clinical symptoms, but it should be used as a second option, when RTX is ineffective or not tolerated and in association with NAs. This review focuses on novel treatments for HBV related CV.
-
We herein report a 33-year-old woman who was an asymptomatic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carrier and presented with distal muscle weakness in the legs and asymmetrical paresthesia in the distal extremities. A nerve biopsy specimen revealed fibrinoid necrosis associated with inflammatory infiltration in the perineural space, and deposition of hepatitis B core antigen and C4d complement was detected in the vascular endothelial cells as well as around the vessels. ⋯ Vasculitic neuropathy rarely develops in the chronic inactive stages of HBV infection. This is the first report of an HBV-inactive carrier with vasculitic neuropathy successfully treated with IVIG.
-
Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is a commensal bacterium indigenous to the skin. Previous reports have suggested that infection with P. acnes causes sarcoidosis, a systemic granulomatous disease. We present the case of a 63-year-old woman who developed subcutaneous nodules. ⋯ Immunohistostaining revealed a P. acnes skin infection, which led to the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Minocycline treatment resolved the infection and improved the patient's symptoms. We herein report a case in which immunohistochemistry was useful in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis.