A case of ''silk route disease'' in a patient from Congo.

The authors describe a case of Behçet's syndrome or ''silk route disease'' in a patient from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The patient arrived in hospital suffering from an acute episode of febrile erythema nodosum, which was diagnosed as type 2 leprosy reaction. His history reported recurrent oral aphthae and during hospitalization ulcers on the scrotum and pathergy were observed. A diagnosis of Behçet's disease was made. The patient is HLA B51 negative and the scientific literature confirms that testing for the presence of this allele is negative in the 10 cases of Behçet's disease reported from Sub-Saharan countries.