Disseminated granuloma annulare in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: case report and review of the literature.

The authors report the case of a 27-year-old woman who presented with disseminated granuloma annulare in association with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The lesions were asymptomatic, tiny, erythematous or flesh-colored umbilicated papules on the neck, trunk, and flexor surface of the arms and knees that regressed without any treatment in two months. The case reported is the nineteenth description of the association of granuloma annulare and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome but the first in a female patient. The causes and pathogenesis of granuloma annulare are unknown, but after reviewing the previous case reports we hypothesize that circulating human immunodeficiency virus particles may be a precipitating factor in granuloma annulare and that the CD4+ and CD8+ cell dysfunction may be responsible for the atypically short course of the disease.