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Viral Diseases of the Skin

Diagnosis and Antiviral Treatment

  • Therapy In Practice
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Abstract

Viral diseases in children can present with characteristic mucocutaneous manifestations. This article focuses, from a practical clinical point of view, on the laboratory and clinical diagnoses, and treatment of pediatric dermatological diseases that have specific antiviral therapies: herpes virus infections (including varicella), papillomavirus infections and molluscum contagiosum.

Special issues, such as viral infections in pregnancy, therapy of viral infections in immunosuppressed children, as well as special problems associated with the epidemiology of genital herpes and papillomavirus infections in adolescents are discussed.

The antivirals discussed in detail include: aciclovir, valaciclovir, famciclovir, penciclovir, cidofovir, foscar-net and the immune response modulator, imiquimod. Since these antiviral drugs generally have not been evaluated in children, caution should be exercised with their usage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Department of Dermatology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA, for the use of slides in preparing the illustrations.

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  1. Department of Dermatology, Texas Tech University, Health Sciences Center, Mail Drop #9400, 3601 4th Street, Lubbock, Texas, 79416, USA

    Zoltan Trizna

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Correspondence to Zoltan Trizna.

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Trizna, Z. Viral Diseases of the Skin. Pediatr-Drugs 4, 9–19 (2002). https://doi.org/10.2165/00128072-200204010-00002

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