ATYPICAL LICHENOID DERMATITIS

IMMEDIATELY following the Buna campaign in New Guinea in 1943 a new cutaneous syndrome was repeatedly observed among the Australian and American soldiers returning to the base hospitals in Australia. The eruption puzzled many experienced dermatologists, and it was not until the same clinical picture was repeated in increasing numbers that a few medical officers realized that they were dealing with a new disease, hitherto undescribed. The uncertainty of diagnosis is witnessed by the wide variety of names attached to the disease, such as "tropical lichen planus," "atypical lichen planus," "quinacrine hydrochloride dermatitis," "lichenoid dermatitis," "atypical lichenoid dermatitis" and, among the G. I.'s, simply "New Guinea Rot." Since it appeared that the eruption was associated with the enforced ingestion of quinacrine hydrochloride (atabrine) in a malarial suppressive routine, discussion of the disease became officially top secret. The result was that information about the cutaneous disease was disseminated by word of