Exfoliative dermatitis due to immunologically confirmed carbamazepine hypersensitivity.

A 6-year-old Caucasian girl experienced a generalized erythematous skin rash during carbamazepine therapy. Over the next four days the eruption worsened into erythroderma with fever and generalized lymphadenopathy. Routine laboratory studies revealed increased serum levels of liver enzymes and eosinophilia. Immunologic reactivity to the anticonvulsant carbamazepine and its analogs was investigated both in vivo and in vitro by patch tests and lymphocyte proliferation assays, respectively.