title: Pityriasis Rosea in Children: Clinical Features and Laboratory Investigations.
abstract: Pityriasis rosea (PR) is a common, self-limiting exanthematous disease associated with a systemic reactivation of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and/or HHV-7. It usually occurs in the second or third decade of life whereas it is uncommon in patients younger than 10 years. We studied the clinical features and virological parameters of 31 children with PR, comparing them with those in adults. Our findings indicate that PR presents different characteristics between children and adults, mainly consisting of time lapse between herald patch and generalized eruption, duration of the exanthem, oropharyngeal involvement and persistence of HHV-6 and HHV-7 plasma viremia. Overall, these results suggest that, following HHV-6 and/or HHV-7 systemic active infection, the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in PR may at least partly be different in children and adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, DISSAL, IRCCS A.O.U. San Martino-IST, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Drago
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ciccarese
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Broccolo
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cozzani
authors.forename: Aurora
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parodi
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000276:immunology; D016199:Herpesvirus 7, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D017515:Pityriasis Rosea / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections / Q000150:complications*; D013997:Time Factors; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M