title: Erysipelas-like erythema as the presenting feature of familial Mediterranean fever.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  'Erysipelas-like' erythema (ELE) is a well recognized, although uncommon, manifestation of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), which is frequently mistaken for infectious erysipelas, especially when forming the initial disease presentation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To clinically and genetically characterize ELE as the first manifestation of FMF.
  
  
  METHODS
  FMF patients with ELE as the first disease presentation (study group), were compared with FMF patients with ELE, appearing during the disease course (control group I), and to those FMF patients who never had ELE (control group II).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients of the study group were comparable to patients without ELE with respect to all demographic, clinical and genetic features studied, and yet differed from patients with ELE appearing later in the disease course in disease severity score (1.7 ± 0.4 vs. 2.4 ± 0.6, P = 0.01), length of diagnosis delay (7.2 ± 6.4 vs. 2.3 ± 3.3 years, P=0.037), age of FMF onset (24.8 ± 19.9 vs. 5.6 ± 5.7 years of age, P=0.014) and rate of homozygosity to the M694V mutation (14.3% vs. 68.7% respectively). ELE traits in the study and control groups were alike.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FMF with ELE as the first disease manifestation form an uncommon subgroup, clinically and genetically diverging from the rest of the FMF-ELE patients.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Unit and Medicine F, Heller Institute of Medical Research, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, affiliated with Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. merav.lidar@sheba.health.gov.il
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lidar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doron
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barzilai
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Feld
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zaks
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Livneh
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Langevitz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004886:Erysipelas; D004890:Erythema / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D010505:Familial Mediterranean Fever / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult