Successful treatment of acrodermatitis enteropathica with zinc sulfate.

A case of a 22-month-old child with acrodermatitis enteropathica (AE) is reported. At five months of age, the patient experienced generalized oral and cutaneous candidiasis for which she was treated with nystatin and iodochlorhydroxyquin-hydrocortisone. She then had to be treated for secondary infection of the lesions. After three months, the cycle repeated, and the patient was treated with topical clotrimazole, Mycolog (nystatin, gramicidin, neomycin sulfate, triamcinolone acetonide) and oral nystatin. After a worsening of her condition, she was admitted to a hospital where she was treated initially with procaine penicillin G, then methicillin sodium and gentamicin sulfate. Treatment with zinc sulfate, 50 mg t.i.d., was initiated when laboratory studies showed a serum zinc level of 60 microgram/dl. Skin lesions were 99% resolved and serum zinc increased to 118 microgram/dl after 17 days of zinc sulfate therapy. Previous case reports and studies of the clinical features, treatment and pathogenesis of AE are reviewed.