title: Clinical and molecular aspects of molluscum contagiosum infection in HIV-1 positive patients.
abstract: Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) lesions from 31 human immunodeficiency type 1 (HIV-1) positive patients and 54 HIV-1 negative adult control patients were examined for the presence and type of MCV DNA by high stringency Southern hybridization using 32P-labelled or digoxigenin-labelled MCV DNA probes. Of the 83 patients whose lesions contained detectable MCV DNA, 77 were infected with a single type of MCV (16 with MCV 1; 29 with MCV 1v; 30 with MCV 2; and 2 with MCV 2v). Five patients had apparent double infections, with hybridization results indicating the presence of various combinations of MCV 1 or 1v and MCV 2 or 2v. When these results were analysed in the light of clinical data no correlations were found between the MCV type(s) detected and the clinical stage of HIV-1 infection; nor between the MCV types and the anatomical site of the lesions or persistence of infection. However, the HIV-1 positive patients were significantly more likely to be infected with MCV types 2 or 2v than were the controls (17/29, 59% versus 15/48, 31%; P less than 0.05). Since a concurrent study of MCV lesions in children aged 15 years or less has shown that the percentage of infections attributable to MCV 2 or 2v is extremely small (3%), this finding suggests that MCV lesions in HIV-1 positive patients are attributable to adult-acquired MCV infection rather than to reactivation of a childhood infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: de Zwart-Steffe
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Donovan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015139:Blotting, Southern / Q000592:standards; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008976:Molluscum Contagiosum / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral