Eruptive familial lingual papillitis: a new entity?

In order to describe the characteristic signs and course of a possibly new clinical entity, we undertook a clinical study of a series consisting of four families (5 children and 10 relatives) with a distinctive eruption of the tongue. The disease always started in a child, usually an infant (mean age 15.2 months), and then spread to one or several other members of the family. It had an abrupt onset and was characterized by difficulties in feeding, increased salivation, and irritability. Inflamed, hypertrophic fungiform papillae were seen on the tip and the dorsolateral part of the tongue, some having a pseudopustular appearance. There were no vesicles, erosions, signs of geographic tongue, or oral thrush; the central part of the tongue, the lips, gingivae, palate, and throat were normal. The acute phase lasted 6 to 7 days and was self-limited. A few days later, one or several relatives experienced an intense burning sensation on the tongue, with an increase and exacerbation caused by food intake, with the identical features of inflamed papillae. The duration of the stomatitis was usually 1 week for the infants, but longer for some adults. The similarity of these cases suggests the existence of a new clinical entity possibly of viral origin. We propose naming this eruption "eruptive familial lingual papillitis."