Molluscum Contagiosum Virus (MCV) – Poxviruses

00:01 Molluscum contagiosum virus.

00:03 This infection is benign.

00:05 It's self-limited.

00:06 It creates these wart-like lesions, which you see in the image in front of you.

00:10 Transmission is via close contact, but also through fomites.

00:15 And unfortunately, because virus, active virus is expressed at the surface of these wart-like legions, one can autoinoculate everywhere.

00:24 So, a classy situation is the child in daycare or preschool who's interacting closely with another child via toys or as kids do sharing everything, foods, cheese sticks, you name it.

00:37 And so, your child may come home -- in fact, likely, will come home from school at some point in time with molluscum contagiosum warts.

00:46 The population at risk, therefore, are children, although this is also a sexually transmitted diseases in older people in adults.

00:55 It's truly only a medical problem in terms of progressive diseases, and those who are immunocompromised and especially those with HIV/AIDS.

01:05 Lesions themselves, as you see in front of you, are small, skin colored, but with a central core, a central plug which contains the virus itself.

01:15 The lesions, again, can be everywhere, but most often on the trunk, sometimes autoinoculated to the genitalia or the face.

01:22 And they also can be clustered as you see here, but also can be individual as well.

01:29 They're most often clinically silent, although occasionally, they are somewhat itchy.

01:34 So, these viruses are ones which, in the first case, the pox viruses, we will hopefully not see again, unless a bioterrorist threat is reactivated, but the second one, the molluscum contagiosum viruses, you will absolutely see at some point, whether you practice pediatrics or have a family of your own.