Cutaneous chancroid in a visitor from Vanuatu

Australas J Dermatol. 2008 May;49(2):98-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-0960.2008.00439.x.

Abstract

A 23-year-old woman from Vanuatu presented to an Australian hospital with a 3-week history of a non-healing ulcer on the lower leg. A swab was submitted for a multiplex polymerase chain reaction designed to investigate genital ulcerative conditions. Haemophilus ducreyi was detected and the gene product was subsequently sequenced, confirming the diagnosis of cutaneous chancroid. The lesion responded to intramuscular benzathine penicillin. This report adds further evidence that cutaneous chancroid should be considered in the evaluation of skin ulcers in the south Pacific.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
  • Chancroid / diagnosis*
  • Chancroid / drug therapy
  • DNA, Bacterial / analysis
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Female
  • Haemophilus ducreyi / genetics
  • Haemophilus ducreyi / isolation & purification*
  • Humans
  • Injections, Intramuscular
  • Leg Ulcer / drug therapy
  • Leg Ulcer / microbiology*
  • Penicillin G Benzathine / therapeutic use
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Travel
  • Vanuatu
  • Yaws / diagnosis

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • DNA, Bacterial
  • Penicillin G Benzathine