Seasonal variations of systemic lupus erythematosus flares in southern France.

Objective: Exposure to sunlight is one of the environmental factors involved in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus. We investigated whether there is seasonal variation in the incidence of cutaneous and noncutaneous severe lupus flares in southern France.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed clinical and biological data from all SLE patients hospitalized for a flare of the disease during a two year period in our centre and collected corresponding meteorological data from the official website of MeteoFrance.

Scedosporium apiospermum catheter-related soft-tissue infection: a case report and review of the literature.

We report a case of catheter-related Scedosporium apiospermum soft-tissue infection. This ubiquitous filamentous fungus can cause human infection after traumatic subcutaneous implantation of its conidia or their inhalation in near-drowning cases. It has also been reported as an etiological agent in a growing number of hospital-acquired infections.