The gross and microscopic appearances of molluscum contagiosum are shown here. In immunocompetent persons, infection with the molluscum contagiosum poxvirus (a DNA-containing virus) is a self-limited process of a month or so, with a solitary skin lesion. In immunocompromised persons, such as the patient seen here with AIDS, the number and extent of the lesions (typically pink umbilicated papules 0.3 to 0.5 cm in size) is much greater. Microscopically, the lesion appears cup-shaped, with central "molluscum bodies" which are the homogenous pink inclusions.
| Our winner is: Hiroshi Ogawa, MD of Seirei Mikatabara Hospital, Hamamatsu, JAPAN
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