Fumagillin is an antibiotic isolated by Hansen and Eble, in 1949, from Aspergillus fumigatus and later found to be amebicidal. When it is used in doses of 40-60 mg. a day for 10 to 14 days to treat human amebiasis, undesirable side-effects are seen in some patients. Headache, insomnia, nausea, tenesmus, vomiting, diarrhea, and some sensory defects are reported.1-4 The most usual dermatologic reaction is a widespread maculopapular eruption, occasionally with an urticarial component, which usually appears by the 6th to 10th day of therapy and clears within a few days after the medication is stopped.5,6 When this reaction was severe, Radke5 discontinued the drug for two days and was able to resume it without incident, which led him to call it a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction rather than a drug eruption.
The skin reaction with which this paper is concerned is a nonerythematous scaling of the