Virus infections of the skin (overview) B08.-

Frequent skin diseases which have a significant clinical, therapeutic and differential diagnostic significance. Basically only 3 groups of viruses are able to infect the skin:

• Human papillomaviruses
• Herpes viruses (herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus)
• Smallpox viruses (paravaccinia virus, parapox viruses)

Infection can occur through direct contact (papilloma and herpes viruses), through reactivation from an extracutaneous focus (herpes zoster), but also hematogenically (varicella zoster viruses). The most common viral infections are listed below:

Infections caused by human papillomaviruses, see under Wart

s.under Herpes simplex virus infections

s. under Varicella, Zoster

s. under Molluscum contagiosum