Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis in a 6-year-old boy.

Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC) is a complex disorder characterized by persistent or recurrent candidal infections of the skin, nails and/or mucous membranes. A familial occurrence has been reported in some instances, suggesting a genetic predisposition. CMC has also been suggested to be associated with a selective defect in T cell-mediated immunity to Candida antigens. Reports of cases in Asians are rare. We report a case of CMC in a 6-year-old boy with chronic candidal infection since 7 months of age. The patient presented with deficient cell-mediated immunity and decreased natural killer cells. This case highlights the need for detailed studies for evaluating the T-cell immunity in patients with chronic candial infection.