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First Report of a Dermatitis-Producing Marine Alga

COL. FRANKLIN H. GRAUER, MC; HARRY L. ARNOLD, JR., M.D.

Arch Dermatol. 1961;84(5):720-732.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Marine animals^1-6 have long been known to produce acute dermatitis on contact with the human skin. The eruption described herewith, however, is the first (to our knowledge) to be due to contact with a marine plant, a seaweed. This dermatitis has been proven experimentally by one of us (Col. Grauer) by patch testing to be produced by contact with a marine blue-green alga^7,8 which has tentatively been identified as Lyngbya majuscula Gomont⁹ (Fig. 1).

During July and August, 1958, an acute dermatitis, previously not reported in Hawaii, occurred in swimmers frequenting windward beaches on the island of Oahu. During this period more than 125 cases received treatment for this disorder and hundreds of mild, unreported cases were suspected. Cases occurred at beaches from Laie and Kaaawa to Lanikai and possibly Waimanalo, with no instances of occurrence in Kaneohe Bay (Fig. 2). In the experience of one of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
USA; SAN FRANCISCO; HONOLULU

From the Dermatology Service, Tripler U.S. Army Hospital, APO 438 and the Department of Dermatology, Straub Clinic, 1000 Ward Ave., Honolulu, Hawaii.

Chief, Dermatology Service, Letterman General Hospital, San Francisco; formerly chief, Dermatology Service, Tripler U.S. Army Hospital, Honolulu, Hawaii (Col. Grauer); Dermatologist, Straub Clinic (Dr. Arnold).

Footnotes
Submitted for publication Aug. 3, 1961.

Read before the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Dermatological Association, Inc., Tucker's Town, Bermuda, June 16-20, 1961.

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