Acrodermatitis enteropathica in a full-term breast-fed infant: case report and literature review

A male full‐term infant, who had been exclusively breast‐fed since birth, at 2 months of age developed an erythematous, scaling eruption involving the face (in a periorificial distribution, i.e. mouth, nose, ears, and eyes), hands, and feet, which did not respond to treatment with topical corticosteroids and oral antimicrobials. He was first seen at our institution at 5 months of age ( Figs 1 and 2 ). He had been irritable for the last 2 weeks, but had no diarrhea, alopecia, or anogenital lesions. A clinical diagnosis of acrodermatitis enteropathica was confirmed with a serum zinc level of 41.2 µg/dL (normal, 70–120 µg/dL). His mother had low–normal serum (70.5 µg/dL; normal, 70–120 µg/dL) and normal milk (0.43 µg/mL; normal, 0.2–0.72 µg/mL) zinc concentrations. Within 7 days of starting therapy with zinc sulfate, 10 mg/kg/day, all cutaneous lesions had resolved ( Fig. 3 ).

Figure 1 Open in figure viewer PowerPoint Infant at 5 months of age showing an erythematous, scaling eruption involving the face (periorificial distribution, i.e. mouth, nose, and eyes) and hands