Detection of Human Herpesvirus 8 in the Skin of Patients with Pityriasis Rosea

• Published in: Acta dermato-venereologica Vol. 89; no. 6; pp. 604 - 606
• Main Authors: PRANTSIDIS, Anestis, RIGOPOULOS, Dimitrios, PAPATHEODOROU, Georgios, MENOUNOS, Panayiotis, GREGORIOU, Stamatis, ALEXIOU-MOUSATOU, Ifigeneia, KATSAMBAS, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala Acta dermato-venereologica 01.01.2009
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Biopsy; Case-Control Studies; Dermatology; DNA, Viral - analysis; Female; Herpesvirus 8, Human - genetics; Herpesvirus 8, Human - isolation & purification; Humans; Immunocompetence; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Pityriasis Rosea - virology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Skin - pathology; Skin - virology; Skin involvement in other diseases. Miscellaneous. General aspects; Young Adult; Gammaherpesvirinae; Human; Skin disease; Dermatology; Pathogenesis; Herpesviridae; Exanthema; Infection; Virus; Human herpesvirus 8; Presumed viral disease; Skin; Pityriasis rosea
• ISSN: 0001-5555; 1651-2057
• DOI: 10.2340/00015555-0703

Pityriasis rosea is an acute self-limiting dermatosis with clinical and epidemiological features that suggest viral involvement. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible association between pityriasis rosea and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8). Lesional skin tissue was obtained from 34 Kaposi's sarcoma-negative, immunocompetent patients with typical acute phase pityriasis rosea. Nested polymerase chain reaction with specific primer for HHV-8 DNA sequences was performed and all positive results were confirmed by sequencing. Seven out of 34 lesional skin specimens (20.5%) were found to be positive for the HHV-8 genome. All the positive samples were confirmed by DNA sequencing. We conclude that, in some cases, HHV-8 is implicated the pathogenesis of pityriasis rosea.