Case Report
Catarina Araújo, Cristi
Abstract
Introduction: Allergic contact dermatitis to mercaptobenzothiazole and its derivatives has been increasingly recognized in industrialized countries because of their widespread use in polymerization of synthetic rubber. Case report: A 61 years old non atopic man, woodworker, with a 12-month history of itching, erythema, infiltration of genius region of face and extension to posterior cervical region. Epicutaneous tests were performed with enlarged Basic series, Rubber series, wood series, cosmetics series, plastics series from Portuguese Contact Dermatitis group series and fragments of the work protection mask. It was found positive for mercaptobenzothiazole (++), mercapto mix (++) and elastic band of mask (++) in evaluation at 96 h and 7 days. Conclusions: Despite being well known allergens, mercaptobenzothiazole and its derivatives are still widely used in the rubber industry. We emphasize this case as an example of important occupational disability caused by allergic contact dermatitis.