Search

In 1998, a Lancet paper described 12 cases of children with autism, and having been vaccinated (MMR) in the United Kingdom; medias presented the information to the lay public, stating that a link was possible. In 2004, The Lancet published letters responding to allegations against the paper. Later, it was established that no link existed between MMR and autism; few years and many publications were necessary to conclude to the absence of evidence. In 2010, the General Medical Council published a report against Dr Wakefield, first author of the 1998 paper, and showing that the children hospital records did not contain the evidence; hospital records differed from the published paper; the Lancet retracted the 1998 paper. In 2011, Brian Deer, a journalist, published the complete story in theBMJ: in 1996, Wakefield was approached by lawyers representing an anti-vaccine lobby, and they supported the Wakefield research. Dr Wakefield left England; in 2012 he works in Texas, USA, for anti-vaccine lobbies., (Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.)

Background: Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP) following vaccination is rarely described in the literature. We report a case of PRP occurring two weeks after measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination., Case Report: A 17-month-old infant was referred for a rash appearing two weeks previously. The child was presenting diffuse erythematous scaly exanthema with follicular papules and orange palmoplantar keratoderma. The clinical features were highly evocative of PRP. The histology was non-specific, displaying epidermal acanthosis with a regular and thick parakeratosis, and without any impairment of the follicular infundibulum. An MMR vaccination had been given two weeks before onset of the rash. Treatment with topical corticosteroids and emollients proved effective., Discussion: Post-vaccinal PRP is rarely described in the literature. We report only the 3rd case. The first case concerned a 32-year-old woman presenting two episodes of PRP 10 days after diphtheria-tetanus-polio vaccination. The second case concerned a 47-year-old woman presenting PRP 18 days after anti-influenza vaccination and requiring treatment with acitretin. No cases have been described with MMR. These three vaccines (DTP, Tetragrip and ROR) have no shared pharmacological constituents, and the trigger mechanism could be immunological or parainfectious., Conclusion: Questioning about recent vaccination during history taking appears necessary to assess the importance of this trigger factor as well as the mechanism responsible for the onset of PRP., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)