title: Detection of human herpesvirus 8 in the skin of patients with pityriasis rosea.
abstract: Pityriasis rosea is an acute self-limiting dermatosis with clinical and epidemiological features that suggest viral involvement. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible association between pityriasis rosea and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8). Lesional skin tissue was obtained from 34 Kaposi's sarcoma-negative, immunocompetent patients with typical acute phase pityriasis rosea. Nested polymerase chain reaction with specific primer for HHV-8 DNA sequences was performed and all positive results were confirmed by sequencing. Seven out of 34 lesional skin specimens (20.5%) were found to be positive for the HHV-8 genome. All the positive samples were confirmed by DNA sequencing. We conclude that, in some cases, HHV-8 is implicated the pathogenesis of pityriasis rosea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, 414 Military Hospital, Penteli, Greece. prantsan@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Anestis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prantsidis
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rigopoulos
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Papatheodorou
authors.forename: Panayiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Menounos
authors.forename: Stamatis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gregoriou
authors.forename: Ifigeneia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alexiou-Mousatou
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsambas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007121:Immunocompetence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017515:Pityriasis Rosea / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral