Erythrasma is often mistakenly diagnosed as dermatophytic infection which is a fungal infection and not a bacterial infection. The difference here is that fungi are multicellular and eukaryotes while bacteria are single celled prokaryotes. This is vital to differentiate because of the way they reproduce will indicate how the infection will spread throughout the human body. Mechanism
Corynebacterium minutissimum is the bacterium that causes this infection, often club shaped rods when observed under a microscope following a staining procedure, which is a result of snapping division which makes them look like a picket fence. This bacterium is gram positive, which means it has a very thick cell wall that cannot be easily penetrated. Electron microscopy confirms the bacterial nature of erythrasma, it shows decreased electron density in keratinized cells at the sites of proliferation. This means that the bacterium causes erythrasma by breaking down keratin Fibrils in the skin. Corynebacterium minutissimum consumes carbohydrates such as glucose, dextrose, sucrose, maltose, and mannitol.Erythrasma manifests mostly in slightly webbed spaces between toes (or other body region skin folds like the thighs/groin area) in warm atmospheric regions, and is more prevalent in dark skinned humans. As a person ages, they are more susceptible to this infection. This bacterium is not only found in warm atmospheric regions, but also warm and sweaty parts of the human body. Corynebacterium minutissimum survives the best here due to the encouraged fungal growth in these regions and allows it to replicate. It is more prevalent in African Americans due to their skin pigmentation.
Nathalie syndrome is a rare genetic developmental defect during embryogenesis disorder and is thought to be hereditary.In 1975 a physician described four siblings in a Dutch family with symptoms of the condition; the condition was named after the oldest sibling.According to Orphanet, the condition occurs in 1 in 1 million people.Children with this condition appear younger than their age. Nathalie syndrome can cause disability and death around early or mid adulthood. Sudden death, cardiomyopathy, and heart failure have been reported in some cases. == References ==