Molluscum contagiosa (Mollusca contagiosa)

Mol­lus­cum con­ta­gio­sum are small, benign skin lesi­ons cau­sed by the mol­lus­cum con­ta­gio­sum virus from the pox­vi­rus fami­ly. They occur par­ti­cu­lar­ly fre­quent­ly in child­ren bet­ween the ages of two and ten, but can also affect adults. Trans­mis­si­on occurs through direct skin cont­act with infec­ted per­sons or indi­rect­ly via shared towels, clot­hing or toys. Infec­tion can also occur in swim­ming pools or during sport. In adults, sexu­al trans­mis­si­on is also pos­si­ble. The cha­rac­te­ristic nodu­les are skin-colo­red, red­dish or shi­ny like mother-of-pearl, have a dia­me­ter of two to five mil­li­me­ters and show a typi­cal cen­tral dent. They con­tain a whitish, chee­sy mass. The warts occur sin­gly or in groups and can appear any­whe­re on the body, but pre­fer­a­b­ly on the face, neck, arms and hands. In child­ren, the trunk and extre­mi­ties are often affec­ted, in adults with sexu­al trans­mis­si­on the geni­tal regi­on. Dia­gno­sis is based on the typi­cal appearance. In unclear cases, a tis­sue sam­ple can pro­vi­de cer­tain­ty. Mol­lus­cum con­ta­gio­sum are harm­less and often heal on their own within six to twel­ve months, but can also per­sist for up to two years. They can spread over the body through scrat­ching. Tre­at­ment is not abso­lut­e­ly neces­sa­ry, but can be car­ri­ed out for cos­me­tic reasons or to pre­vent them from spre­a­ding. Pos­si­ble the­ra­pies include squeezing or scrat­ching out the warts, icing with liquid nitro­gen, laser the­ra­py or the appli­ca­ti­on of spe­cial tinc­tures. As a pre­ven­ta­ti­ve mea­su­re, towels and clot­hing should not be shared. Scrat­ching the warts should be avo­ided as this encou­ra­ges them to spread. Child­ren with mol­lus­cum con­ta­gio­sum should refrain from bathing together.