SummaryUse of medicinal plants is common and widespread throughout Africa, including in Senegal. Because efficacy has been demonstrated, public policies have been instituted that have allowed plant-based therapies to have an important role in general primary care. However, little is known about the cutaneous safety of many plant-based therapies. In this 6-month prospective study all cases of dermatitis induced or aggravated by exclusive use of medicinal plants were evaluated via skin allergy testing. The results were classified and compared with the available literature. Forty-three cases of plant-therapy-associated cutaneous reactions were identified, including worsening of existing conditions (56%), recurrence of a previously resolved condition (16%) and new dermatitis arising spontaneously (28%). In the cases where the condition was new, generalized exfoliative dermatitis occurred in 42% of cases with an average time of onset of 9 days. Specific plants were identified in 65% of cases and included 18 varieties. The frequency and severity of plant-induced cutaneous reactions should be the basis for the creation of a phytovigilance programme and re-evaluation of how traditional medicine is used in the general population. When irritation occurs, identification of the responsible plant and allergy testing should be the first steps towards relieving symptoms.In Africa, many plants are used empirically in traditional medicine. According to the World Health Organization, plantbased therapies represent a first-line medical recourse for more than 80% of people across all social classes in many African countries. This is due to the accessibility and low cost of plant-based medicine, along with advertisements in the media by an increasing number of traditional practitioners. However, these practitioners are sometimes illiterate and incompetent. The current cultural environment promotes self-medication and/or polymedication.Often called traditional phytotherapy, plant-based therapies can be delivered via either topical or oral routes. Topical delivery consists of direct application of the plant onto the skin, while the oral route encompasses ingestion of a liquid maceration of one or several plants. The benefits of plantbased therapies have been demonstrated; various administrative policies currently ensure that phytotherapy is an important component of primary-care medicine in Africa. However, the potential for harmful effects remains largely unknown by the general population, prescribers, and health and political authorities.Many dermatological afflictions diseases arise from or are exacerbated by the inappropriate and abusive use of these plants. The condition may be life-threatening when it is an erythroderma (exfoliative dermatitis) or leads to synechiae of ocular and genital mucous membranes. Despite the current use of hundreds of plants in traditional medicine, very few toxicological studies have been conducted in research laboratories. The present study was performed to evaluate the cutaneous safety of several com...

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Hundreds of new leprosy cases are still diagnosed in Dakar despite all the efforts in the struggle by the national program for elimination of leprosy by the Institute of Applied Leprosy in Dakar. The aim of our study was to evaluate the epidemiological, clinicopathological and outcome of new cases of leprosy. A prospective study was conducted over a period of one year listing all new cases of leprosy based on clinical diagnosis, bacteriology and histology. 73 new cases were recorded. The sex ratio was 1.5 and the mean age of 39.5 years. Children aged from 0 to 15 years old represented 12%. The clinical forms were rated in order of decreasing frequency Borderline 47.94%, 30.13% lepromatous lepromatous, indeterminate 8.21, borderline lepromatous 6.84, TT: 5.47%, 1.36 and neurological bb%. Neurological signs were enlarged nerve in 50 cases, a neurological deficit in 16 cases and a sensitive deficit in 16 cases. The complications were burns and ulcerations in 10 cases, a claw in 7 cases, a reversal reaction in 7 cases, erythema nodosum in 4 cases and neuritis in 8 cases. The number of new cases mutilated was 24.65%. The smear was positive in 42% and histology contribution in 91.37% of cases. Our study highlights the significant number of patients with multibacillary contagious, affected children, the high proportion of disability grade 2/OMS reflecting the delay in diagnosis. This delay is due to ignorance, to traditional treatments and low socio-economic status and lack of trained diagnostic teams in different areas apart from referral centres.

The aim of our study was to determine the epidemiological and clinical aspects of vitiligo in the largest dermatology department of Senegal. A cross-sectional and descriptive study in a period of 5 months was performed covering all the vitiligo cases. Fifty patients were identified (26 women and 24 men). The mean age was 26.5 years. A family history of vitiligo was found in 11 cases and a psychoaffective disturbance in 6 cases. The clinical forms distinguished were generalized vitiligo (n = 33), localized vitiligo (n = 16), vitiligo universalis (n = 4), and segmental vitiligo (n = 1). The Koebner phenomenon was found in 7 cases. Associated diseases were atopic dermatitis (n = 2), contact dermatitis (n = 1), diabetes (n = 1), and Graves' disease (n = 1). The disgraceful character of Vitiligo was the predominance of generalized forms and the elective localization in sun-exposed areas. The family character, the psychoaffective disturbances, the Koebner phenomenon increased by the lifestyle and the itching dermatosis were the aggravating factors.