[Skin reactions related to molluscum contagiosum infection]. / Reacciones cutáneas relacionadas a la infección por molusco contagioso.

Molluscum contagiosum (MC) is a common viral infection in children, immunocompromised, and sexually active adults. Its usual clinical presentation is 2-5 mm, whitish or skin-colored papules, with a shiny surface and central umbilication, generally clustered and randomly distributed over the skin surface. Dermoscopy reveals yellowish-white polylobulated structures with peripheral telangiectasia. Diagnosis is usually clinical supported by dermoscopy. However, in some cases, inflammatory manifestations can be associated with this infection and can mimic other dermatological conditions, making the diagnosis difficult and leading to unnecessary treatments. The objective of this article is to describe the main skin reactions associated with MC infection in order to provide a diagnostic and initial management tool for clinicians dealing with these conditions. Reported manifestations include the BOTE sign, perilesional eczema, Gianotti-Crosti syndrome-like reaction, ID reaction, erythema annulare centrifugum, erythema multiforme, folliculitis, white halo, and atypical manifestations (giant, disseminated, necrotic, polypoidal, and nodular lesions, pseudocysts, abscesses). In pediatric patients with the clinical manifestations described above, infection by molluscum contagiosum pox virus should be considered among the differential diagnoses, and referral to a dermatologist should be made in selected cases.

Paediatric-onset lymphomatoid papulosis: results of a multicentre retrospective cohort study on behalf of the EORTC Cutaneous Lymphoma Tumours Group (CLTG).

BACKGROUND: Lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP) is a rare cutaneous T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder. Comprehensive data on LyP in the paediatric population are scarce. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the epidemiological, clinical, histopathological and prognostic features of paediatric LyP. METHODS: This was a retrospective multicentre international cohort study that included 87 children and adolescents with LyP diagnosed between 1998 and 2022. Patients aged ≤ 18 years at disease onset were included. LyP diagnosis was made in each centre, based on clinicopathological correlation. RESULTS: Eighty-seven patients from 12 centres were included. Mean age at disease onset was 7.0 years (range 3 months-18 years) with a male to female ratio of 2 : 1. Mean time between the onset of the first cutaneous lesions and diagnosis was 1.3 years (range 0-14). Initial misdiagnosis concerned 26% of patients. LyP was most often misdiagnosed as pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta, insect bites or mollusca contagiosa. Erythematous papules or papulonodules were the most frequent clinical presentation. Pruritus was specifically mentioned in 21% of patients. The main histological subtype was type A in 55% of cases. When analysed, monoclonal T-cell receptor rearrangement was found in 77% of skin biopsies. The overall survival rate was 100%, with follow-up at 5 years available for 33 patients and at 15 years for 8 patients. Associated haematological malignancy (HM) occurred in 10% of cases (n = 7/73), including four patients with mycosis fungoides, one with primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), one with systemic ALCL and one with acute myeloid leukaemia. If we compared incidence rates of cancer with the world population aged 0-19 years from 2001 to 2010, we estimated a significantly higher risk of associated malignancy in general, occurring before the age of 19 years (incidence rate ratio 87.49, 95% confidence interval 86.01-88.99). CONCLUSIONS: We report epidemiological data from a large international cohort of children and adolescents with LyP. Overall, the disease prognosis is good, with excellent survival rates for all patients. Owing to an increased risk of associated HM, long-term follow-up should be recommended for patients with LyP.

Lymphomatoid papulosis is a very rare skin condition caused by an abnormal increase in white blood cells (called 'lymphocytes') in the skin. The condition rarely affects children, so most of the scientific data published about this disease focuses on adults. This study involved 12 academic dermatology centres in Europe, the Middle East and North America, and gathered data from about 87 children who presented with symptoms of lymphomatoid papulosis before the age of 19 years. The aim of this study was to better describe this disease in the paediatric population and discuss its treatment options and evolution. We found that the presentation of the disease in children is roughly the same as in adults. Safe and effective treatment options exist. The disease is not life threatening, but it requires investigation by a dermatologist, both to make a careful diagnosis and to monitor it as sometimes associated cancers that originate from blood cells can occur, mostly on the skin.

Molluscum contagiosum presenting as periorbital abscess in immunocompetent children.

Molluscum contagiosum presenting as a periorbital region abscess is unusual. The virus generally causes a self-limiting localized disease in children. Presentation as an abscess has been reported mainly in immunocompromised patients. We performed a retrospective study of ten children treated for Molluscum contagiosum infection presenting as periorbital abscess. Data investigated included age, immunocompetence, systemic antibiotic treatment, clinical findings, and histopathology. All children were immunocompetent. Bacterial cultures taken in six of the ten children were positive in two. Seven patients received oral antibiotics before presentation but required IV antibiotics on admission. One patient received IV antibiotics only. All antibiotic treatment had very limited effect. Two patients had no antibiotic treatment. CT imaging in one case where orbital cellulitis was suspected showed no significant intraorbital findings with anterior involvement only. Nine out of ten children had surgery and intra-operative cryotherapy at our center with immediate improvement and recovery. One child whose parents initially refused surgical excision had initial limited clinical improvement of periorbital swelling with antibiotics. However, the lesions were excised shortly following discharge from our hospital at another medical center with a complete cure. Molluscum is a cause of periorbital abscess in immunocompetent children which should be part of the differential diagnosis in periorbital/adnexal infection. Antibiotic treatment has a limited effect, and the abscess is most likely a virally triggered reaction. Surgical excision and intra-operative cryotherapy are curative of the disease in our experience.

[Differential diagnoses of benign eyelid tumors in children and adolescents]. / Differenzialdiagnosen benigner Lidtumoren bei Kindern und Jugendlichen.

BACKGROUND: The clinical diagnosis as well as the treatment approach of periocular tumors in childhood and adolescence can be challenging. Knowledge of the most important differential diagnoses and their clinicopathological correlation is helpful for the treatment approach. OBJECTIVE: The clinical and histological characteristics of various eyelid tumors in childhood and adolescence are presented taking the excision frequencies into consideration. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The frequencies and clinicopathologic correlation of the most important eyelid tumors (n = 485) are presented based on the data of the ophthalmopathology laboratory of the University Eye Hospital Bonn from 1998-2023. RESULTS: The most frequent tumor in childhood and adolescence is chalazion (57.3%), followed by dermoid cysts (16.7%) and molluscum contagiosum (9.6%). Other lesions of childhood and adolescence include pilomatrixoma (2.1%), hemangioma and other vascular malformations (4.7%) and rare differential diagnoses, such as subcutaneous calcifying nodules and xanthogranuloma. Guidance on the approach in different age groups is presented in the form of a decision tree. CONCLUSION: Tumors in children and adolescents are mostly benign, yet there are important indications for excision. A histological examination of any excised tissue in childhood and adolescence is obligatory because unexpected findings are not uncommon and the spectrum of lesions also differs from that in adulthood. Knowledge of the histological picture can be very helpful in the preoperative clinical classification and for planning further procedures.

Molluscum contagiosum of the corneal limbus in an AIDS patient: a clinicopathological case report.

BACKGROUND: Molluscum contagiosum, a pox virus infection, is likely to occur in the eyelid skin; however, corneal involvements by molluscum lesions are extremely rare. We report a case of molluscum contagiosum arising in the corneal limbus in an untreated AIDS patient, together with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings and histopathology of the excised tumor. CASE PRESENTATION: A 46-year-old man with AIDS was referred to our department for the management of an ocular lesion. Blood tests revealed an extremely low CD4+ T-cell count of 11 cells/µL, being strongly positive for anti-HIV antibody (591.36 S/CO) with a high copy number of HIV RNA (8070.0 × 100 copy/mL). Slit-lamp examination of his right eye showed a white nodule at the lower limbus. Anterior segment OCT findings of the nodule revealed a highly reflective elevated lesion, which was considered to involve the Bowman layer. The nodular lesion was excised from the limbus including the superficial corneal stroma, and then processed for histologic examination. Histopathology of the excised lesion showed acanthotic corneal epithelium containing swollen cells with eosinophilic inclusions known as molluscum bodies. He was diagnosed with molluscum contagiosum. CONCLUSIONS: Anterior segment OCT findings provide useful information for morphological evaluations of and preoperative strategies against molluscum contagiosum.

Melanocytic marker Melan-A detects molluscum contagiosum bodies.

Melan-A is one of the most commonly used immunohistochemical assays (IHC) in dermatopathology laboratories to detect the presence and outline the distribution of melanocytes. It is a cytoplasmic stain that detects a melanocyte-specific cytoplasmic protein involved in the formation of stage II melanosomes. Clinically, Melan-A is primarily used to detect and confirm melanocytic tumors although it is also positively expressed in adrenal cortical tumors and sex cord stromal tumors. We found that Melan-A also detected and highlighted Henderson-Patterson bodies of molluscum poxvirus. To determine if other melanocytic markers detect molluscum contagiosum bodies, S-100, HMB-45, MITF, and SOX-10 were also tested. In 15 tested molluscum cases, Melan-A stains were positive in all cases, whereas the other tested melanocytic markers were negative. Our results confirm that Melan-A is very sensitive in detecting molluscum contagiosum bodies and could be clinically useful to supplement the hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) in cases that are very inflamed or only have limited biopsy material.

Molusco contagioso: actualización y casos clínicos / Molluscum contagiosum: an update and clinical cases

El molusco contagioso es una patología viral benigna muy frecuente, exclusiva del ser humano, y causada por un virus no clasificado del grupo de los Poxvirus. Las manifestaciones clínicas de la enfermedad inclu-yen lesiones en la piel, que pueden variar desde una pequeña pápula a un nódulo de mayor tamaño, pre-sentándose en forma solitaria o múltiple, dependien-do del estado inmunitario del paciente y del tiempo de evolución del proceso morboso. El estudio histo-patológico es importante para el diagnóstico, aunque en numerosas ocasiones éste se define clínicamen-te. Además del patrón histológico tradicional, y más frecuente, que exhibe hiperplasia e hipertrofia de la epidermis, se han descripto variantes poco usuales, cuyas características dependen, entre otros factores, de la sobreinfección y de la respuesta inmunitaria del paciente. En este trabajo se describen los rasgos ge-nerales del molusco contagioso y luego se presentan varios casos clínicos, uno de los cuales exhibe ma-nifestación inusual en la semimucosa del labio. Por último, se realizan comentarios referentes a la im-portancia que tiene para el odontólogo conocer esta patología y estar capacitado para detectarla, de modo de evitar sus complicaciones y su diseminación (AU)

Molluscum contagiosum is a very common benign viral pathologythat affects exclusively humans and is caused by an unclassified virus of the Poxvirus family. Clinical manifestations include skin lesions such as papule or nodule, which may range from a small papule to a larger nodule, presenting either solitary or multiple, depending on the immune status of the patient and the time of evolution of the morbid process. Histopathological study is important for the diagnosis, although in numerous occasions it is defined clinically. Classical and more frequent histology pattern exhibits hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the epidermis; however, distinct characteristics may occur depending on factors like superinfection and immune response of patients. This article describes general aspects of molluscum contagiosum and exposes several clinical cases, one of which exhibits an unusual manifestation in the semimucosa of the lip. Finally, comments are made regarding the importance for dentists to learn about the existence of this pathology and be able to recognize it in order to avoid its complications and spread (AU)

Molluscum Contagiosum on the Sole of the Foot in an Elderly Patient: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Molluscum contagiosum (MC) presents as skin-colored, dome-shaped, umbilicated papules or nodules on the skin and is caused by the MC virus. It predominantly occurs in school-aged children and mainly affects the face, neck, and central regions of the body but, rarely, the soles of feet are affected. Here, we describe the case of a 71-year-old woman with MC on the plantar heel. CASE REPORT A 71-year-old woman presented with a 3-mm, pale, pearly, round, verrucoid lesion along the plantar central aspect of the left heel, present for 1 week. Histopathological evaluation of the excisional biopsy revealed several clusters of hyperplastic keratinocytes containing lobulated, eosinophilic, intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies inverted into the dermal layer, which was diagnosed as MC. CONCLUSIONS MC on the plantar heel is a rare, atypical presentation that needs to be differentiated from viral warts and other diseases.

Atypical presentation of genital molluscum contagiosum mimicking genital warts.

A man in his 20s with a history of unprotected sex with a commercial sex worker three months before presented with a solitary slowly-growing, well-defined, non-tender, oval, verrucous lesion on the mucosal aspect of his prepuce. Dermoscopy revealed a polylobular, pinkish-white, amorphous structure in the centre with a surrounding crown of vessels that did not cross the centre of the lobules, and histopathology showed keratinocytes containing intracytoplasmic faintly granular eosinophilic inclusions and peripherally-pushed nuclei. A diagnosis of agminated genital molluscum contagiosum was reached on the basis of the above findings. Molluscum contagiosum can present with several atypical morphologies mimicking other dermatoses. Agminated molluscum contagiosum can closely mimic a genital wart especially if it is involving the ano-genital region. Awareness among clinicians regarding the atypical presentations of molluscum contagiosum is imperative for early diagnosis and management of this infectious condition.

Presentación atípica de molusco contagioso: compromiso ocular bilateral en paciente con VIH / Atypical presentation of molluscum contagiosum: bilateral ocular involvement in a patient with HIV

La infección por molusco contagioso (MC) en adultos se asocia frecuentemente a transmisión sexual y/o inmunodepresión, por ejemplo, por VIH. En este grupo, la manifestación clínica suele ser atípica. A continuación, se presenta el caso de un paciente con diagnóstico de VIH, bajo recuento de CD4 y carga viral elevada que consulta por múltiples MC en genitales, tronco, cara y ojos además de conjuntivitis en ojo derecho. Se mantuvo terapia antirretroviral (TARV) y se indicó tratamiento para conjuntivitis. La infección por MC en pacientes con VIH se asocia a etapas SIDA con un aumento de los casos a menor recuento de linfocitos CD4, generalmente menor a 200 cel/mL. La pobre respuesta inmune celular de estos pacientes explica su comportamiento clínico atípico. Este grupo presenta una mayor mortalidad que el de pacientes seropositivos sin MC, lo que se explica por la mayor inmunosupresión asociada. El diagnóstico es clínico, aunque podría verse entorpecido cuando hay compromiso ocular por la presencia de lesiones atípicas que hacen necesario considerar diversos diagnósticos diferenciales. El tratamiento es controversial y tiende a existir una baja respuesta y recidiva frente a terapias convencionales en pacientes con VIH cuando la inmunosupresión es marcada por el recuento CD4 muy bajo. La TARV pareciera ser la mejor alternativa para su tratamiento, sin embargo, es importante considerar posibles complicaciones asociadas, como la instauración de síndrome de restauración inmunológica una vez iniciada. Esto podría traducirse en lesiones oculares graves cuando existe compromiso en este órgano

Molluscum contagiosum (MC) infection in adults is frequently associated with sexual transmission and / or immunosuppression, for example by HIV. In this group, the clinical manifestation is usually atypical. Herein we present the case of a patient with a diagnosis of HIV, a low CD4 count and a high viral load who consulted for multiple MC in the genitals, trunk, face and eyes, as well as conjunctivitis in the right eye. Antiretrovitral therapy (ART) was maintained and treatment for conjunctivitis was indicated. MC infection in HIV patients is associated with AIDS stages with an increase in cases with a lower CD4 lymphocyte count, generally less than 200 cells / mL. The poor cellular immune response of these patients explains their atypical clinical behavior. This group presents a higher mortality than that of seropositive patients without MC, which is explained by the greater associated immunosuppression. The diagnosis is clinical, although it could be hampered when there is ocular compromise due to the presence of atypical lesions that make it necessary to consider various differential diagnoses. Treatment is controversial and there tends to be a poor response and relapse to conventional therapies in patients with HIV when immunosuppression is marked by a very low CD4 count. ART seems to be the best alternative for its. However, it is important to consider possible associated complications such as the onset of immune restoration syndrome once it has been started. This could translate into serious eye injuries when this organ is compromised

[Eyelid molluscum contagiosum: a case report]. / Molluscum contagiosum palpébral: à propos d'un cas.

Molluscums contagiosum (MC) are benign skin lesions caused by Molluscipoxvirus, primarily affecting children and young adults. They manly involve the skin and rarely the mucous membranes. Clinical diagnosis is easy, confirmed by histological examination of the lesion. However there is no consensus regarding therapy. Eyelid molluscum contagiosum is rare, posing a problem of differential diagnosis especially when it is isolated as well as a therapeutic problem given the proximity of the eyeball. We report the case of a 7-year old girl with isolated eyelid lesion. The patient underwent lesion excision. Anatomopathological examination showed molluscum contagiosum. This study aims to describe the clinical, therapeutic and evolutionary features of this rare localization of molluscum contagiosum.

Successful treatment of recalcitrant molluscum contagiosum in a stem cell transplant patient with Candida immunotherapy.

Solid organ and stem cell transplant recipients have an increased risk of developing cutaneous infections, which often are refractory to conventional treatment (Euvrard et al., Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2001, 44, 932-939). Molluscum contagiosum, a common self-limited disease primarily affecting children, can be more severe and unresponsive to therapy in transplant patients (Gardner & Ormond, Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, 2006, 31, 452-453). Candida immunotherapy has been widely used for the treatment of warts, and recently its application has been expanded to include treatment of symptomatic molluscum in pediatric patients (Enns & Evans, Pediatric Dermatology, 2011, 28, 254-258; Maronn et al., Pediatric Dermatology, 2008, 25, 189-192). However, to our knowledge there have been no reports in the literature of its utility in the setting of adult transplant or immunocompromised patients. Herein, we report a case of successful treatment of refractory molluscum contagiosum in a stem cell transplant patient with Candida immunotherapy.