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Molluscum contagiosum

Molluscum contagiosum (also called water wart) is skin disease caused by the molluscum contagiosum virus (or MCV), a DNA poxvirus. This condition is commonly found in young children and affects the body, arms, and legs. It is spread through direct contact, saliva, or shared articles of clothing. more...

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In adults, molluscum infections are often sexually transmitted and usually affects the genitals, lower abdomen, buttocks, and inner thighs. In rare cases, molluscum infections are also found in the lips and mouth.

Symptoms

The symptoms of molluscum contagiosum infection include flesh-colored, pea-sized or smaller bumps (called lesions) with dimpled center that may itch, become irritated, tender or painful. In about 10% of the cases, eczema develops around the lesions.

In most patients, however, these wart-like lesions do not have noticeable symptoms. These lesions are prone to secondary bacterial infections, which may obscure or complicate the original condition.

The central waxy opaque core of the lesions contain the virus. In a process called auto-inoculation, the lesion breaks to release the virus which subsequently cause new lesions at a different part of the skin. Children are particularly susceptible to auto-inoculation, and may have widespread clusters of lesions.

Treatments

Molluscum contagiosum infections usually go away by itself within 6 months to 2 years, so that the condition may not warrant specific treatment. For mild cases, over-the-counter wart medicines, such as salicylic acid may shorten infection duration. A person can also use acne treatments, such as a mild or soft scrub when showering, or application of tretinoin cream (vitamin A acid).

Medical treatments for this condition include cryosurgery, where liquid nitrogen is used to freeze and destroy lesions, as well as scraping them off with a curette. Side-effects from these treatments include permanent discoloration and scarring. The topical blistering agent cantharadin applied by a doctor is sometime used in children as the previously mentioned treatments are painful. Pulsed dye laser treatment offers an effective and painless, but relatively expensive way to eliminate individual lesions.

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Genome sequenced for skin disease virus - virus that causes molluscum contagiosum
From Science News, 8/10/96 by John Travis

By creating millions of people with weakened immune systems, HIV has thrown a spotlight on many lesser-known infectious agents that have come to plague AIDS patients. Among them is the virus that causes molluscum contagiosum, a skin disease marked by the formation of papules, small dome-shaped bumps. In an advance that could lead to a treatment for the condition, investigators have now deciphered the entire genetic blueprint of the molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV). That feat, reported in the Aug. 9 Science, is especially significant because MCV has been difficult to study by other means.

Investigators haven't yet grown MCV in the laboratory, nor have they found a laboratory animal that they can infect with the virus. Considering those obstacles, "the best way to get information about the virus was to sequence its genes," says Bernard Moss of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md.

Moss and his colleagues spent more than a year determining the identity and order of the nearly 200,000 pairs of nucleotides, or chemical subunits of DNA, that make up MCV's genome.

Once researchers had the genetic sequence in hand, they compared it to the genomes of the related smallpox and cowpox viruses. The MCV genome contains at least 163 genes, 104 of which resemble genes belonging to the two better-known pox viruses. Most of the shared genes play a role in controlling the activity of viral genes or in allowing the viruses to reproduce, says Moss.

Reflecting the dissimilarity of the illnesses produced by MCV and the deadly smallpox virus, the two genomes differ significantly in the viral genes employed during interactions between the virus and an infected host. For example, more than 20 smallpox genes that encode proteins known to manipulate the host immune response are missing from MCV, notes Moss.

On the other hand, the MCV genome contains at least 59 genes whose functions remain unknown, though some data suggest that several interfere with host immunity. One MCV gene encodes a protein similar to a molecule used by cells to alert the immune system to infectious agents. The viral version of the protein may disrupt that defense system, suggests Moss.

Another MCV gene appears to encode an inactive form of a chemokine, a molecule used to attract immune cells to a site of infection. By producing this misshapen chemokine, viruses may prevent the normal version from helping the body to mount an immune response, says Moss.

The researchers are still looking for the genes that play a role in stimulating skin cells to form papules. Infection with MCV usually produces papules only in certain populations, such as young children, with their inexperienced immune systems, and adults who contract the virus through sexual contact. The impact of MCV can be more dramatic in HIV- infected people. The skin of late-stage AIDS patients with the affliction is often covered with hundreds of papules, many of which may join together to form large lesions.

"This infection is becoming more troublesome among immunodeficient individuals. While the infection is not life-threatening, for many people it is disfiguring and really hurts the quality of life," says Moss.

Researchers plan to use the newly identified MCV proteins as targets for potential antiviral drugs. At present, the only therapy for molluscum contagiosum is the removal of visible papules, a procedure that does not eliminate the underlying infection.

"Sequencing [MCV's] genome will have tremendous clinical ramifications," predicts Patricia L. Myskowski of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

COPYRIGHT 1996 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

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