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A survey of 150 cases with sporotrichosis seen at the Dermatological Clinic of Kurume University Hospital from February 1962 to October 1986 was reported. The proportion of cases with sporotrichosis to the total number of outpatients was 0.17%. Greater percentage of cases fell into the less than 10 years old or more than 40 years old groups. The male to female ratio was 1:1.46, and 38 cases occurred in farmers. Geographic distribution was remarkable, especially around the Chikugo and Yabe river. Sixty-four cases showed the cutaneous lymphangitic type and 85 cases the localized cutaneous type and one case atypical type. The face and upper extremities were the most affected. The sporotrichin test was positive in 117 of 131 cases. The causative organism was demonstrated in tissue sections in 69% of the cases.

Eosinophil phenotypes were investigated in peripheral blood and skin lesions from eight patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP). By Nycodenz density gradients fractionation, blood eosinophils were divided into two phenotypes; normodense (greater than 1.080 g/ml) and hypodense (less than or equal to 1.080 g/ml). Increased numbers of hypodense eosinophils were observed in the blood from all patients with BP. Immunocytochemical observations, using an EG2 monoclonal antibody to react with the secretion form of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), revealed that EG2 was expressed in 86 +/- 3% of hypodense phenotypes and 3 +/- 2% of normodense phenotypes. Ultrastructurally, hypodense eosinophils were characterized by numerous spheroidal granules, each with a lytic crystalloid core. These indicate that the hypodense phenotype represents a cell in an activated state. Only eosinophils with immunocytochemical and morphological characteristics similar to hypodense phenotypes infiltrated around the basement membrane zone in involved skin of BP. Furthermore, direct adherence of eosinophils associated with degranulation into basal keratinocytes was seen at the sites of blistering lesions. Bullous fluids contained higher concentrations of ECP than sera as determined by a radioimmunosorbent assay; thus hypodense (activated) eosinophils may directly damage the basal keratinocytes by releasing their granule proteins, subsequently leading to dermo-epidermal separation.

Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), one of the eosinophil granule proteins, is released during allergic reactions. We investigated the possibility of correlations among the serum levels of ECP, clinical activity, and eosinophil number in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). Forty-four patients with AD and 25 normal, non-atopic subjects were studied. ECP was quantitated by a double antibody radioimmunoassay. The levels of serum ECP correlate with the grading of severity of clinical evaluations in AD. The patients with severe and moderate AD had significantly higher ECP concentrations than normal controls (p less than 0.001); mild AD had levels identical with those of control groups. A positive correlation was observed between the number of peripheral blood eosinophils and serum ECP levels in the severe cases (r = 0.67, p less than 0.05). Furthermore, these ECP levels significantly decreased in response to either improvement of clinical severity of AD or decreased numbers of blood hypodense eosinophils in anti-allergic drug-treated patients. No coefficient of correlation was observed between serum ECP and IgE levels. These findings indicate that eosinophils may release their granular contents, including ECP, into the peripheral circulation and/or inflammatory skin lesions and subsequently provoke a clinical exacerbation by stimulating allergic reactions.