Actinic Prurigo. An update

Background and Objecitve. Actinic prurigo (AP) is a hereditary photodermato sis with typical symptoms and is quite common in North- and South-America. The key genetic factor appears to be a Native American background. In Europ eans this type of AP is extremely ra re; some dispute if this disease exist s in Caucasians. Some newer publications postulate that these patients shar e HLA markers with the Native Americans. The most important differential di agnosis for AP is polymorphic light eruption which can be excluded relative ly accurately by the clinical picture,typical histology and HLA pattern. Patients/Methods. The case of a female patient of Mayan ancestry living in Germany is presented. Conclusions. Since in literature sometimes cases from Europe are diagnosed as AP this is a problem of naming the disease. It would be helpful to integ rate the terms hereditary or hereditaria into the name of the disease in in dians.