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Inappropriate diagnosis of necrotizing arachnidism: Watch out Miss Muffet — but don't get paranoid
Author(s) -
Kemp Donald R
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1990.tb125430.x
Subject(s) - medicine , prednisolone , pyoderma gangrenosum , pyoderma , dermatology , biopsy , surgery , necrosis , pediatrics , disease
A 28‐year‐old man presented with painful progressive necrosis of the skin of his left leg which was associated with general toxicity and a high fever. A working diagnosis of necrotizing arachnidism was made, but no improvement followed two weeks of therapy with analgesics, antibiotics and antihistamines. His symptoms responded rapidly to prednisolone therapy, and a diagnosis of pyoderma gangrenosum was confirmed by biopsy. This subsequently proved to be associated with early acute myelomonocytic leukaemia.