Occupational contact dermatitis from Senecio barbertonicus “Himalaya”

A 56-year old female gardener was referred on suspicion of work-related dermatitis from a succulent Compositae plant. Her past medical history included contact sensitization to Primula obconica, when she was a gardener apprentice, and rubber and nitrile gloves when she later worked as a home help. She had worked in the greenhouse, where Senecio barbertonicus “Himalaya” plants (Figure 1) were grown, for 6 months, but only handled them briefly when she helped to pack the plants. Recently, she made cuttings from large “Himalaya” plants and, after 3 days, she developed an itchy, urticarial dermatitis of primarily hands and forearms. Treatment with systemic corticosteroids cleared dermatitis in 2 weeks. Patch testing with the baseline series, including sesquiterpene lactone mix (SL) 0.1% pet. and parthenolide 0.1% pet., constituents of fragrance mix I, thiuram mix, and carba mix as well as leaf and stem of