Definition and Characteristics
Zinc deficiency in humans was first recognized and characterized in 1963 [1]. Growth retardation due to zinc deficiency affecting children, adolescents, infants and fetuses, has been observed in many countries. Other manifestations of zinc deficiency include hypogonadism mainly affecting adolescent males, rough and dry skin, mental lethargy, poor appetite, delayed wound healing, frequent inter-current infections and abnormal neuro-sensory disorders. Acrodermatitis enteropathica (AE) that usually occurs in infants of Italian, Armenian or Iranian lineage is a lethal, autosomal, recessive trait disorder, caused by severe deficiency of zinc, resulting from genetically determined decreased zinc absorption. The gene for AE has now been characterized [2]. The clinical manifestation of AE includes bullous pustular dermatitis, blepheritis, conjunctivitis, corneal opacities, neuro-psychiatric disorders, weight loss, growth retardation, repeated severe...
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References
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Prasad, A.S. (2009). Zinc Deficiency and Excess. In: Lang, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29676-8_1912
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29676-8_1912
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-67136-7
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