Caused by Molluscum Contagiosum Virus (MCV), a member of the poxvirus family.
Transmission:
Direct skin contact (contact sports, sexually transmitted)
Autoinoculation (scratching or touching lesion, e.g., while shaving)
Fomites (e.g., on bath sponges/towels)
Risk factors: immunosuppression
Pathophysiology
Clinical features
Nontender, skin-colored, pearly, dome-shaped papules with central umbilication (individual lesions may also be painful or pruritic)
Predilection sites:
In children: face, trunk, and extremities (e.g., axilla, antecubital and popliteal fossa)
In adults: lower abdomen, groin, genitalia, and proximal thighs
Diagnostics
Dx is typically made clinically based on the pathognomonic appearance of the lesions.
Histology is diagnostic and shows characteristic large, intracytoplasmic eosinophilic inclusion bodies, known as Henderson-Paterson bodies or molluscum bodies, within keratinocytes.
The epidermis shows cup-shaped, inverted lobular hyperplasia.
