Molluscum Contagiosum

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Molluscum Contagiosum

• A School Health Perspective

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What is Molluscum Contagiosum?

• Molluscum contagiosum is a disease caused by a
  poxvirus of the Molluscipox virus genus that
  produces a small, flesh-colored bumps on the
  skin, often with a tiny, hard, indented,
  seed-like center.
• This virus belongs to the poxvirus family and
  enters the skin through small breaks of hair
  follicles.
  
• Transmission requires direct contact with
  infected hosts or contaminated inanimate objects.
  
  
• The infection is found worldwide and has a
  higher incidence in children, sexually active
  adults, and those who are immune-deficient.

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What are the signs and symptoms?

• Molluscum are usually small flesh-colored or pink
  dome-shaped growths that often become red or
  inflamed. They may appear shiny and have a small
  indentation in the center. Because they can
  spread by skin-to-skin contact, molluscum are
  usually found in areas of skin that touch each
  other such as the folds in the arm or the groin.
  They are also found in clusters on the chest,
  abdomen, and buttocks and can involve the face
  and eyelids.
• In people with immune system diseases, the
  molluscum may be very large in size and number,
  especially on the face. To confirm the diagnosis
  of molluscum, a dermatologist might scrape some
  cells from the growth and look at them under a
  microscope.

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What does it look like?
http//www.aad.org, 2007
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How can I control it?

• Wash hands after touching the bumps.
• Do not share towels used by an infected child or
  adult.
  
• Scratching the bumps may cause further spread of
  the virus to another site.
  
• Dermatologists advise treating molluscum because
  the growths are easily spread from one area of
  the skin to another.
  
• It usually goes away on its own in a few months,
  but can take as long as 5 years until the person
  develops antibodies.
  
• This condition is very mildly contagious and is
  mostly self-limiting.
  
• Bumps do not need to be covered like shingles.

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Treatment

• Molluscum are treated in similar ways that warts
  are treated. They can be frozen with liquid
  nitrogen, destroyed with various acids or
  blistering solutions, treated with an electric
  needle (electrocautery), scraped off with a sharp
  instrument (curette), treated daily with a home
  application of a topical retinoid cream or gel, a
  topical immune modifier, or other topical
  antiviral medications. Laser therapy has also
  been found to be effective in treating molluscum.
  
• Some discomfort is associated with freezing,
  scraping, using the electric needle, and laser
  therapy. If there are many growths, multiple
  treatment sessions may be needed every 3 to 6
  weeks until the growths are gone.
• An option, especially with young children, is not
  to treat molluscum and wait for the growths to go
  away

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What are the roles of the caregiver/teacher and
the family?

• Practice careful and rfrequent hand washing after
  contact with the bumps.
  
• Do not let children pick at their bumps because
  this may cause an opening in the skin, which
  promotes bacterial infection.

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Exclude from group settings?

• No.

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Comments

• This condition can be itchy, which when followed
  by scratching can cause infection.
  
• Cold compresses work well during phases of
  irritation due to the itch.
  
• Keep small bags of ice to wrap in a paper towel
  for children to apply to the areas that feel
  itchy.

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Molluscum Contagiosum Rates

• Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) can be found
  worldwide with a higher distribution in the
  tropical areas.
  
• The disease is endemic with a higher incidence
  within institutions and communities where
  overcrowding, poor hygiene, and poverty encourage
  its spread.
• Over the last 30 years its incidence has been
  increasing, mainly as a sexually transmitted
  disease, and it is particularly rampant as a
  result of concurrent human immunodeficiency virus
  (HIV) infection.
• The worldwide incidence is estimated to be
  between 2 and 8.
  
• Less then 5 of the children in the United States
  are believed to be infected.
  
• Between 5 and 20 of patients with HIV have
  symptomatic MCV.

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Molluscum Contagiosum Manual

• http//www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/miscdocs/docs
  -249/Manual/MolluscumContagiosumManual.pdf