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TROPICAL DERMATOMYCOSES 



Violet Variety.- — Apart from the colour of the patches, which is 

 violet, the clinical symptoms and course of this variety are identical 

 with those of blue pint a. It is extremely common among rural 

 labourers and miners. 



There are numerous subvarieties of violet pinta. In some cases 

 the patches are of a pure violet colour; in other cases the colour 

 may be violet-greyish, violet -brownish, violet -purplish. There are 

 cases in which the patches are at first of a greenish colour, to 

 become violet -bluish later on. The fungus found in the pure violet 

 pinta is an Aspergillus [A. pictor Blanchard, 1895); the fungus 

 found in the violet-greyish cases is a Penicillium — P. montoyai 

 Castellani, 1907; the fungi found in the other varieties are Aspergilli 

 or fungi presenting transition characters between the Aspergillus and 

 the Penicillium. 



Red Variety. — This is the commonest variety found in white 

 patients. The patches first develop, as a rule, on the dorsum of the 

 hands and feet, and spread to large portions of the body. The 

 patches are red — often brick-red — and usually show a rather 

 abundant desquamation. Pruritus is very distressing, especially 

 at night-time. Secondary lesions due to scratchings and inocula- 

 tion of pyogenic micro-organisms are not rkre. Ulcerative lesions 

 have been reported by several observers as occasionally occurring. 



In some cases of red pinta an Aspergillus (species not determined) 

 is found; in others a fungus of the genus Montoyella — M. hodini 

 Castellani, 1907, found by Bodin in 1903 in a patient who was under 

 the treatment of Darier. 



Castellani, in 1907, found the same or a very similar Montoyella in a case 

 of red pinta observed in a European sailor who had long been in tropical 

 America. In this case the disease had not yet spread much. Besides the 

 red patches, there was on the right forearm a small greyish-violet spot, in 

 which a fungus was found, which gave Penicillium fructifications in cultures 

 (P. montoyai) . 



Red pinta is more serious than any other variety, as it affects 

 not only the superficial strata of the epidermis, but the rete Mal- 

 pighii as well as the corium. 



Yellow Variety. — Very common among half-castes. It generally 

 begins on the chest or arms. The patches are yellow, and at first 

 are not pruriginous and not desquamating. In old cases, however, 

 there is pruritus. This variety is very frequently mixed with 

 patches of white pinta, and is difficult to cure. The fungi found 

 belong to the genera Monilia and Aspergillus. 



White Variety. — The patches are of a dull white colour, and are 

 generally very large. The surface is usually rough and desquamat- 

 ing, but at times it may be smooth. In some cases a fungus of the 

 genus Monilia is 'present, but, according to Montoya, in other cases 

 no fungus whatever is to be found. Montoya considers the white 

 variety of pinta to represent in many cases the ultimate retrogres- 

 sive stage of all the other varieties except the red. The patches 

 of white pinta would be in such cases in reality unpigmented 



