An Uncommon Early Dermatological Manifestation of Childhood Coeliac Disease

Krishna Kumar Thattakkat,Gail Whitehead

doi:10.4172/2157-7420.1000314

Abstract

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition caused by body reaction to gluten. It affects 1:100 people. Common symptoms in children include loose stools, abdominal pain and faltering growth, poor appetite, bloating of abdomen and mood changes. Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH) is the skin manifestation of coeliac disease affecting 1:3300 people. Most commonly DH affects people aged 50-69 years and is relatively uncommon in school aged children; especially as an early manifestation of coeliac disease. We present the case of a six year old child who had troublesome persistent itchy blistering rash as the initial manifestation of childhood coeliac disease, that was formally diagnosed several years later, when he developed abdominal symptoms. This is a unique rare presentation in this age group.

Highlights

We report a 6 year old child who presented with persistent skin rash with blistering and a background history of constipation and iron deficiency anaemia who was confirmed to have coeliac disease
He was being treated for eczema and chronic urticarial with steroids until the diagnosis was confirmed and gluten-free diet was commenced, that resulted in complete resolution of his symptoms, including the troublesome itchy skin rash
Coeliac disease is a lifelong auto-immune disorder caused by the abnormal reaction of human body to a protein called gluten present in wheat, barley and rye

Summary

Introduction

We report a 6 year old child who presented with persistent skin rash with blistering and a background history of constipation and iron deficiency anaemia who was confirmed to have coeliac disease. He was being treated for eczema and chronic urticarial with steroids until the diagnosis was confirmed and gluten-free diet was commenced, that resulted in complete resolution of his symptoms, including the troublesome itchy skin rash. IgA tTG has normalised and he continues on gluten free diet. We continue to follow him in the joint Paediatric Coeliac clinic.

Results

Conclusion