Evidence of retroviral involvement in an Italian patient with Ofuji's disease

Ofuji's disease, also known as 'eosinophilic pustular folliculitis', is a rare inflammatory skin disorder of unknown aetiology, which affects mostly adult Japanese males. Only few Caucasian patients have been described so far. We report the case of a 44-year-old Italian woman with Ofuji's disease who had circulating antibodies against the recombinant envelope glycoprotein (Rgp46I) of HTLV-1. By means of a very sensitive nested PCR, the tax region of HTLV-1, but not other regions, was found in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Our observations suggest that a retrovirus, closely related to HTLV but not yet identified, could be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease in this patient.