Acrodermatitis enteropathica

Acrodermatitis enteropathica is a rare disorder, inherited probable as an autosomal recessive condition. The affected children have an inborn error of zinc metabolism. This anomaly may be overcome by a zinc supplementation or by breastfeeding and seems to improve with age. The characteristic symptoms appear a couple of weeks after the infant is weaned from breastfeeding (or earlier if the infant is formula fed) and include photophobia, periorificial (oral, anal, genital) and acral dermatitis, alopecia, diarrhoea, behavioural and mental changes, neurological disturbances, poor wound healing, and secondary bacterial and fungal infections; growth is stunted. All of these conditions are reversible with zinc therapy. Without proper management, the prognosis is poor. We present the case of a 9 years old boy who attended the "Scarlat Longhin" Hospital for Dermatology Bucharest for acral and periorificial dermatitis, alopecia, growth retard, and neurological disturbances. Plasma zinc concentrations were low. The symptoms rapidly disappeared after treatment with zinc gluconate.