Psoriasis, a Systemic Disease Beyond the Skin, as Evidenced by Psoriatic Arthritis and Many Comorbities – Clinical Remission with a Leishmania Amastigotes Vaccine, a Serendipity Finding. José Antonio O’Daly Carbonell
Introduction Psoriasis is a systemic chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disorder, with worldwide distribution, affects 1–3% of the world population, prevalence varies according to race, geographic location, and environmental factors (Chandran & Raychaudhuri, 2010; Christophers & Mrowietz, 2003; Farber & Nall, 1974). In Germany, 33,981 from 1,344,071 continuously insured persons in 2005 were diagnosed with psoriasis; thus the one-year prevalence was 2.53% in the study group. Up to the age of 80 years, the prevalence rate (range: 3.99-4.18%) was increasing with increasing age and highest for the age groups from 50 to 79 years The total rate of psoriasis in children younger than 18 years was 0.71%. The prevalence rates increased in an approximately linear manner from 0.12% at the age of 1 year to 1.2% at the age of 18 years (Schäfer et al., 2011). In France, in a case-control study in 6,887 persons, 356 cases were identified (5.16%), who declared having had psoriasis during the previous 12 months (Wolkenstein et al., 2009). The prevalence of psoriasis analyzed across Italy showed that 2.9% of Italians declared suffering from psoriasis (regional range: 0.8-4.5%) in a total of 4109 individuals (Saraceno et al., 2008). The overall rate of comorbidity in subjects with psoriasis aged less than 20 years was twice as high as in subjects without psoriasis. Juvenile psoriasis was associated with increased rates of hyperlipidemia, obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. The best-known noncutaneous condition associated with psoriasis is a joint disease, mostly expressed as Psoriatic arthritis (PsA), (Mrowietz et al., 2007). Palmoplantar psoriasis is associated with significant quality-of-life issues. In 150 patients with palmoplantar psoriasis, 78 (52%) patients displayed predominantly hyperkeratotic palmoplantar lesions, 24 (16%) pustular, 18 (12%) combination, and 30 (20%) had an indeterminate phenotype. In 27 (18%) patients, lesions were confined to the palms and soles. In all, 27 (18%) had mild, 72 (48%) moderate, and 51 (34%) severe disease involvement (Farley et al., 2009).
