Molluscum contagiosum

From Citizendium
Revision as of 22:04, 21 April 2009 by imported>Rauf, Widad
Jump to navigation Jump to search
All unapproved Citizendium articles may contain errors of fact, bias, grammar etc. A version of an article is unapproved unless it is marked as citable with a dedicated green template at the top of the page, as in this version of the 'Biology' article. Citable articles are intended to be of reasonably high quality. The participants in the Citizendium project make no representations about the reliability of Citizendium articles or, generally, their suitability for any purpose.

Attention niels epting.png
Attention niels epting.png
This article is currently being developed as part of an Eduzendium student project in the framework of a course entitled Microbiology 201 at Queens College, CUNY. The course homepage can be found at CZ:Biol 201: General Microbiology.
For the course duration, the article is closed to outside editing. Of course you can always leave comments on the discussion page. The anticipated date of course completion is May 21, 2009. One month after that date at the latest, this notice shall be removed.
Besides, many other Citizendium articles welcome your collaboration!


This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

Template:TOC-left

Molluscum Contagiosum Virus
[[image:
Molluscum Contagiosum Virus.
|200px|]]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Virus
Family: Poxviridae
Genus: Molluscipoxvirus
Species: Molluscum contagiosum virus
Molluscum Contagiosum on foot.jpg


Introduction

Molluscum Contagiosum Virus was first described and later it was named by Bateman in the early nineteenth century.[1] Over time, there was more cases that were described and similar to this virus, and overtime there was more and more information gathered on this. Goodpasture later described the similarities of molluscum and vaccinia.[2] Molluscum Contagiosum Virus is a poxvirus, which is a member of the family Poxviridae. Poxvirus are viruses that can be a family that infect both vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Molluscum contagiosum is a viral infection that seems to cause lots of papules or nodules on the skin. This disease it thought to infect humans only, but there has been cases where they found animals with Molluscum Contagiosum. This virus is said to be most common in children, but is found in sexually active adults, and those that are not immuned. It is found worldwide with an increase in tropical areas. This disease is more prominent in areas, populations, institutions and communities with overcrowding, very bad hygiene, and high rate of poverty.They look like pimples with a pinkish, waxy, ugly look and a central pit, which can grow anywhere on an infected person.

Description and Significance

Another type of Molluscum Contagiosum.jpg

There are various types of Molluscum Contagiosum Virus, and they are most commonly seen on humans, but have been found to be on animals such as chickens, horses, oxes, cows, etc. As said, this is often seen on children and if on adults its due to sexually activity with an infected person. This virus is very contagious that can spread by contact with infected individuals or by association with fomites. Fomites are infected clothes, toys, towels, etc. It is found that there has been an increase of this disease mainly as a sexually transmitted disease, and seen that it is particularly rampant as a result of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection. It is estimated to be between 5% to 20% of patients with HIV have symptoms of MCV. [3]

Taxonomy

To explain this further, Molluscum Contagiousum is a poxviruses from the family of Poxviridae. There are four genera, which are Orthopox, Parapox, Yatapox, and Molluscipox. Molluscipox gives rise to the virus Molluxcum Contagiosum. The name for Poxviridae viruses comes from the original grouping of the virus related with the disease that produced poxes on the skin. The subfamily is Chordopoxvirinae, with the Genus Molluscipoxvirus, and the species being MCV. Types of Viruses for each genera: Orthopox: variola virus, vaccinia virus, cowpox virus, monkeypox virus, smallpox ; Parapox: orf virus, pseudocowpox, bovine papular stomatitis virus; Yatapox: tanapox virus, yaba monkey tumor virus; Molluscipox: molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV).[4] There are four main subtypes of molluscum contagiosum: MCV I, MCV II, MCV III, and MCV IV. All subtypes cause similar clinical lesions in genital and nongenital regions. Studies show MCV I to be more prevalent (75%–90%) than MCV II, MCV III, and MCV IV, except in immunocompromised individuals.[5]

Genome Structure

Genome_MCV

[6]. By the colaboration of information from experiments conducted over the years by Tatiana G. Senkevicha, Eugene V. Kooninb, Joachim J. Bugertc, a, Gholamreza Daraic and Bernard Mossa and various other scientists, we discovered that the Molluscum Contagiosum Virus is a non-segmented molecule of single double-stranded linear DNA with 180,000 to 200,000 nucleotides.It is said that there are 163 genes identified which encode 182 proteins. Among those, 105 proteins are counterparts in OPV (''Orthopoxviruses''). The OPV protein are considered to be the essential proteins for replication, and is noted that these proteins are highly conserved in MCV when undergoing transcription. There are twenty MCV proteins with OPV counterparts that have their own homologs, and some even have their own functional motifs. Despite other factors, the physical order and regulation of essential ancestral poxvirus genes have been largely conserved in these MCV's and OPV's. [7]The picture on the right is a table of Genomic information on various viruses.

They are usually complex struture and is consistent with the structure of poxviruses, with an envelope, core, surface membrane, and lateral bodies, and which contains infections in their envelope. The virons are in diameter of 200nm-300nm in length.[8]

Prevention

Since we already know its a contagious disease, we should becareful to avoid being in contact with someone who is infected. No sharing of clothes, towels, or any physical contact. Adolescents and adults who have MCV is due to sexual contact, so being careful and aware of this should be in care of mind. And definitely, being clean and have good hygiene can keep one from getting this disease.

Symtoms

MCV

[9] Molluscum causes pimple-like bumps on skin. There is not really any pain or discharge, but can be itchy and blisterish like to some individuals. They are nasty looking pinkish, yellowish bumps on the skin. They can look like small, waxy, raised polyp-like growths. They can be white, yellow, clear, or pinkish. Usually, at first we see one papule on our skin, and then from that they multiply and spread. Few indiviuals get MCV being red scaly skin with blisters around it.

Treatment

There are various ways to treat Molluscum Contagiosum. In most cases, this is not a serious case of disease that doesn't harm any organs and such. This disease if taken caution upon finding out can be treated pretty quickly. The issue with molluscum contagiosum is that the individual tends to pick and scratch at it causing more inflation, and risking a wider range of skin being infected. Some methods of treatment are putting on creams or having it surgically removed, etc. Few of the methods mentioned are cryosurgery, evisceration, curettage, podophyllin and podofilox, and cantharidin as well as others. The most common method though is using a cream named Imiquimod, which you apply four weeks nightly, resulting in the clearing of it in three months, and if you want it removed faster than that one would have a pulsed dye laser, which has been documented with excellent results. The therapy was well tolerated, without scars or pigment anomalies. The lesions resolved without scarring at 2 weeks. Studies show 96%–99% of the lesions resolved with one treatment.[10] The pulsed dye laser is quick and efficient, but its quite expensive which makes people look for other means.


Reference

  1. Bateman F. Molluscum contagiosum. In: Shelley WB, Crissey JT, eds. Classics in Dermatology. Springfield IL; Charles C Thomas, 1953, p20.
  2. Bretz S. Molluscum Contagiosum. Emedicine Juournal April 25,2001;2(4).http://dermatology.cdlib.org/92/reviews/molluscum/diven.html#1
  3. 1. Billstein SA. Mattaliano VJ Jr. The "nuisance" sexually transmitted diseases: Molluscum contagiosum, scabies, and crab lice. Med Clin North Am 1990; 74: 1487-1505. 2.Schwartz JJ. Myskowski PL: Molluscum contagiosum in patients with human immunodefificiency virus infection. J Am Acad Dermatol 1992;27:583. 3. Lombardo PC. Molluscum contagiosum and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Arch Dermatol 1985; 121: 834-835.http://dermatology.cdlib.org/92/reviews/molluscum/diven.html#1
  4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poxviridae
  5. Gottlieb SL, Myskowki PL. Molluscum contagiosum. Int J Dermatol 33: 453-461,1994. Yamashita H, Uemura T, Kawashima M. Molecular epidemiologic analysis of Japanese patients with molluscum contagiosum. Int J Dermatol 1996;35:99-105.
  6. Etten, James L. Van (2002) http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ssb/nanopanel2vanetten-1.gif
  7. Tatiana G. Senkevicha, Eugene V. Kooninb, Joachim J. Bugertc.Received 18 February 1997; revised 26 March 1997; accepted 15 April 1997. ; Available online 12 April 2002. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WXR-45K15Y8-6D&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=54d0c349fe732cbe9bf360a3a8090d03#bm4.1
  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poxviridae
  9. |url:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Molluscaklein.jpg
  10. Daniel Hanson and Dayna G. Diven. Dermatology Online Journal 9(2): 2. http://dermatology.cdlib.org/92/reviews/molluscum/diven.html#1