Erythema multiforme exudativum (Stevens-Johnson syndrome).

Abstract

This paper represents a clinical analysis of 14 cases of Stevens-Johnson syndrome that were seen during an 18 month period at the United States Army Hospital at Fort Dix, N. J. The naming of this disease has had an interesting (but confusing) evolution over the past 130 years. Bazin, 1 in 1862, reported an erythematous rash associated with stomatitis and conjunctivitis. In 1866, Hebra 2 called particular attention to this disease when he described a clinical entity consisting of fever, polymorphous skin lesions, and few systemic signs. To this mild condition he gave the name erythema multiforme exudativum. In 1922, Stevens and Johnson 3 reported on two extremely ill children as having eruptive fever, with stomatitis and ophthalmia. Behcet's disease, Reiter's disease, ectodermosis erosiva pluriorificialis, and Stevens-Johnson disease all have such a pronounced similarity that they are probably variants of the same disease entity, which might be named erythema multiforme