Childhood bullous dermatitis herpetiformis. Negative immunofluorescent tests

Indirect immunofluorescent (IF) staining revealed that the sera of six patients with active childhood bullous dermatitis herpetiformis (also referred to as childhood bullous pemphigoid) were negative for basement-membrane zone or "pemphigoid" antibodies. Direct IF studies of skin lesions from three of these patients also yielded normal results, in contrast to that noted in adult bullous pemphigoid. Bullous dermatitis herpetiformis or bullous pemphigoid of childhood, therefore, appears to be immunologically distinct from bullous pemphigoid as it occurs in the adult. "Benign chronic bullous dermatosis of childhood" may be a more appropriate name for this disease.