Neonatal lupus. A Case Report

Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is a rare disease, with an incidence of approximately 2% in newborns. Less than 5% of these babies will develop systemic lupus erythematosus in late adolescence or early adulthood. A case of a female term newborn is presented, born to a mother with an unremarkable previous history, with positive immunological markers; birth weight of 3,280 grams, 40 weeks gestational age, with skin lesions in which the differential diagnosis was herpetic infection. The diagnosis was made and systemic involvement was ruled out in a timely manner, which could have potentially endangered the life of the newborn. This case demonstrates the importance of adding neonatal lupus erythematosus to the differential diagnosis in patients with skin lesions at birth.