Molluscum contagiosum in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. A review of twenty-seven patients.

BACKGROUND

Molluscum contagiosum (MC) is a common and at times severely disfiguring cutaneous viral infection in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical course of MC in patients with HIV infection and to examine the relation between presentation of MC and the stage of HIV infection, as measured by T-cell subsets.

METHODS

This is a retrospective case study of 27 patients with MC and HIV infection who had T-cell subset determination within 60 days of diagnosis of MC.

RESULTS

The overall mean CD4+ count, CD4+ percentage, and CD4+/CD8+ ratio were 85.7/mm3, 5.9%, and 0.10, respectively. An inverse relation between CD4+ count and the number of MC lesions was observed (p = 0.0023). Fourteen patients (52%) had facial and neck lesions alone, and seven (26%) had lesions in areas associated with sexual transmission. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia had occurred in 8 patients (31%) and Kaposi's sarcoma in 15 patients (56%).

CONCLUSION

MC can occur as a late manifestation of HIV infection and is a cutaneous correlate of cellular immune deficiency.