Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022568 (keratitis)
 5,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Since about 1950 especially, dermatologists world-wide have been utilizing the positive side-effects, discovered by chance, of all groups of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs. These drugs are used to treat certain non-microbially induced dermatoses, without any knowledge of the mechanisms involved. A short history is given and the most important drugs and the indications for their use are described. The following drugs are undoubtedly effective and sometimes even the therapy of choice: tetracyclines in acne vulgaris and rosacea (including rosacea keratitis); penicillin G in acrodermatitis atrophicans and cold urticaria; dapsone in dermatitis herpetiformis and - as a powerful adjuvant - in acne vulgaris and rosacea. Before the discovery of the socalled immunodepressive drugs, tetracycline was the only alternative to - or at least a highly effective adjuvant of - cortisone in dermatomyositis and chloroquine in localised and systemic lupus erythematosus. Finally, clioquinole was life-saving in acrodermatitis continua in children until this condition was recently identified as a zinc-deficiency syndrome. Therapeutical mechanisms have been found only in the case of acne, rosacea and dermatitis herpetiformis. In most other diseases the nature of the therapeutical effectiveness of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs still remains a mystery.
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PMID:[Positive side-effects of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs in therapy (author's transl)]. 16 43

Lyme disease is a multisystem disorder caused by a tick-transmitted spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Clinical manifestations typically begin with characteristic skin lesions, erythema (chronicum) migrans. Weeks to months later, some patients develop the second stage of the illness characterized by neurologic abnormalities, migratory joint pain, cardiac involvement. Months to years later, in many patients the disease progresses to the third stage of manifestation such as chronic arthritis, chronic encephalomyelitis, acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans and keratitis. Zoonotic infection with B. burgdorferi is also widespread within endemic regions among domestic as well as wild animals. The diagnosis is based on clinical and epidemiological findings in most patients, particularly those with erythema migrans or tick bites. Detection of specific antibodies to B. burgdorferi is a useful confirmatory test in many patients. In atypical cases, a positive test result can be valuable for determining the diagnosis. However, serologic testing in Lyme disease is not yet standardized and the results obtained from different assay systems or commercial kits may vary. Moreover, because of poor agreement in sensitivity and/or specificity, data obtained from different laboratories are not comparable. We emphasize that serologic findings must be interpreted with caution; the physician must beware of its strengths and limitations.
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PMID:[Lyme disease]. 227 65