logo
Home | Browse Categories | Contact Us | Links


Topics


Sexually transmitted infections

Molluscum Contagiosum Clinical manifestations

Clinical manifestations

Molluscum contagiosum papules are discrete, 2 to 5 mm in diameter, slightly umbilicated, flesh colored, and dome shaped. They spread by touching and autoinoculation particularly in atopic patients. Scratching or shaving may result in a linear distribution of lesions. Transmission also occurs in wrestlers, masseurs and steam and sauna bathers. The pubic and genital areas are most commonly involved in adults. Lesions are frequently grouped. There may be few or many covering a wide area. Erythema and scaling at the periphery of a single or several lesions may occur. This may be the result of inflammation from scratching, or it may be a hypersensitivity reaction. Individual lesions last 6 to 8 weeks. Autoinoculation causes new lesions and the duration of infection can be 8 months or longer. The differential diagnosis includes warts and herpes simplex. Molluscum papules are dome shaped, slightly umbilicated, firm, and white. Warts have an irregular, often velvety surface. The vesicles of herpes simplex rapidly become umbilicated.

Genital molluscum contagiosum in children may be a manifestation of sexual abuse.

Molluscum contagiosum is a common and at times severely disfiguring eruption in patients with HIV infection. It is often a marker of late-stage disease.