Pityriasis rosea and herpesviruses: facts and controversies.
Pityriasis rosea is an acute exanthem with many clinical and epidemiologic features of an infectious disease. To date, human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and HHV-7 appear to be the most indicted culprits, and the evidence in favor of this hypothesis and the controversial results produced elsewhere are discussed. The complex pathophysiology of HHV-6 and HHV-7 infection, their diffusion in the population at large, the difficulties of understanding whether the infection is still latent or is clinically manifest, and well as whether pityriasis rosea depends on a reinfection or on a viral reactivation, all make the issue extremely difficult to study and understand.
Rebora
Alfredo
A
Section of Dermatology, University of Genoa, Genova, Italy. rebdermo@unige.it
Drago
Francesco
F
Broccolo
Francesco
F
D005260:Female; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016199:Herpesvirus 7, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017515:Pityriasis Rosea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections / Q000150:complications*