A Fatal Connective Tissue Disease Following a Wasp Sting

THE CONCEPT that the so-called collagen diseases may be a family of interrelated disorders and no distinct unrelated entities, is not a new one. Osier¹ in 1914 emphasized the similarities between anaphylactoid purpura and serum sickness. Gairdner² in 1948 linked the clinical, pathological, and etiological factors of anaphylactoid purpura, acute nephritis, rheumatic fever, and polyarteritis nodosa. He further demonstrated the coexistence of these entities within one another. The present case is of interest not only because it offers additional clinical and histopathological evidence of a generalized connective tissue disease but because it apparently began immediately following a wasp sting.

Report of a Case  A 12-year-old white boy was transferred to Sinai Hospital 19 days after being stung by a wasp on the dorsum of the right foot. Prior to the insect bite, he had been essentially healthy with the exception of occasional headaches. There was no significant family