[Ultrastructural study of a case of molluscum contagiosum (author's transl)].

This is the case of a female child with molluscum contagiosum widely disseminated around the mouth and the eye-lids. Antibiotics were used to stop local staphylococcal superinfection. Follicular conjunctivitis and keratitis punctata disappeared only after complete removal of all cutaneous lesions. Biological diagnosis was done by direct observation of the Poxvirus with the electron microscope, since isolation of the virus itself is impossible. Ultrastructural study of the excised tumor has shown the different stages of the growth of the virus, and the associated cellular lesions.