Military medicine requires the elimination of the manifestly disqualified. This prevents the possible incapacitation of the soldier and conserves time and energy for the Army. For these reasons the recognition of some of the rare disabling diseases is important. Often they are misdiagnosed and treated as banal conditions. Epidermolysis bullosa falls into this category.
Recently Leider and Baer1 reported a case in which such an eruption was encountered in a seaman and treated as a fungous infection. The following case was that of a soldier who was treated for allergic dermatitis and pyoderma for nine months. Despite a history pathognomonic of epidermolysis bullosa, he was retained in his assignment in a tank destroyer unit, where the possibility of trauma is ever present.
REPORT OF CASE
W. P. M., an American soldier aged 23, was admitted to the dermatologic ward of the station hospital at Camp Livingston, La., on