PeDRA

Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance

Drugs and Bugs

Consensus Management of RIME in Children and Adolescents

By

Fellow

Roseline Okonkwo, MD
Alberta Children’s Hospital

Mentor

Michele Ramien, MDCM, MSc, FRCPC
Alberta Children’s Hospital

Overview

What to do about RIME (reactive infectious mucocutaneous eruption)?

Most kids get infections like colds or flus and just get sick but some of them get a burn-like reaction on their skin and mucous membranes (the wet parts of the body inside the mouth, eyes, nose, genital, and anal areas) that is called reactive infectious mucocutaneous eruption (RIME).

Researchers are starting to understand more about RIME. While waiting for them to figure out why RIME happens, we need a plan to treat RIME now. One way to do so is to put together what is already known and to ask experts who are looking after kids with RIME to share their experience. The experts talk amongst themselves about the plan until they agree. This is called a consensus.

The consensus will help kids who get RIME to have the same treatment from their doctors.

Status

This project was funded through a 2022 PeDRA Research Fellowship Grant.

Clinical and Genetic Characterization of Recurrent Reactive Infectious Mucocutaneous Eruption

By




Principal Investigators:

Yvonne Chiu, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin

Michele Ramien, MD
University of Calgary

Beth Drolet, MD
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Overview:

Reactive infectious mucocutaneous eruption (RIME) is a condition activated by an infection, resulting in blisters on the skin and widespread sores on mucous membranes. RIME is rare but most commonly affects children and adolescents. Recurrent RIME, where people have multiple episodes of RIME, is even more rare.

Recent research studies have shown that genetic differences can affect how children respond to common viral infections. We hypothesize that people who have RIME have genetic differences that cause an abnormal hyper-inflammatory response to common infections, and that people with recurrent RIME have even stronger genetic susceptibility.

The medical community does not know much about RIME or how to treat it. We would like to characterize RIME and recurrent RIME, describing the clinical features, the immunologic profile, and discovering genetic variants. We hope that if we can understand what makes children have RIME, we will be able to treat the disease more effectively.

Status:

This project was funded by a 2020 PeDRA Research Grant.