Molluscum questions

[DEANMACHINE]

Dr.



I've been diagnosed with MC and just wanted some info since there seems to be very little out there.  The Dr. removed the MC by cutterage(there were 3) and said they should heal in a few days.  He made it sound like a very harmless and benign issue which made me feel a little better, saying there would be no long term affects-its mainly a physical appearance issue

1)Is it true that this means they're gone after beingn scraped off as long as I don't see any new ones in the next month or so?

2) what is the incubation period?

3) how contagious are the lesions?  Now that they are removed, am i still contagious(once they heal up) sounds like they are not nearly as contagious as herpes or HPV

4) Once i'm in the clear and no new ones develop, do I have any kind of immunity

5) how common is MC-i've heard it rare and common(lots of contradictory info out there)

6) Once the MC has cleared up, can i still transmit it?  is it only contagious when lesions are present?



Thanks for your input

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

The difficulty finding information and the conflicting information available both reflect the low priority for this generally trivial disease, which translates into little or no interest in research, no money available to study the disease, and so on.  Most of what we "experts" think we know is based solely on our personal experiences, with little firm data behind it.  So take the following answers in that spirit.



1) Yes, if no recurrence or new lesions within a month or so, you can consider yourself cured.



2) Incubation period not carefully studied, probably usually 6-12 weeks in mont persons.



3) Contagiousness--i.e., likelihood of transmission during any single sexual exposure--is unknown, never studied.  I can't even guess.  Even if an investigator wanted to study this and could find the resources to do so (see above), a research study would be difficult because it is impossible to know who is and isn't already immune due to past (childhood) infection, thus more or less impossible to study transmission risk.



4) It is assumed that people who have been infected are subsequently immune to new infection.  Again, not well studied.



5) MC is common as a childhood infection.  It's seen as an STD with modest frequency in busy STD clinics, but not daily.  Much less common than gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, or HPV.



6) As far as is known, once MC clears up, people do not have chronic asymptomatic infecction and do not transmit the virus.  But once again, not known for sure, not wel studied.



Good luck--  HHH, MD

[DEANMACHINE]

Thanks for your input!  Sounds like a pretty insignificant disorder that resolves itself-although i sped up the process by scraping them off.  I was initially fearful since MC can be considered an STD but sounds like if you're going to get one, this is probably the most harmless.  I've been in a monogomous relationship for the past 9 months so i dont know how i could have got them-are there other ways of getting them other than sex?  She does not have any MC as far as we know.

[TonyOde]

Mike.....I had/have Molluscum myself. I did alot of research and decided I would just take care of it myself after all I read. Basically, I just popped them like a zit, making sure I got that little white core out. You will know as you can easily see it, and it will bleed quite a bit. I then washed area with antibiotic soap and applied an antibiotic ointment to help in healing. Usually took a few days, but it healed up. Most of mine were located in pubic area, although had some on shaft of penis and scrodum too. It is kind of painful to pop them, but its pretty simple. Also read where you can take a steril needle to break open, then pop out the core.

Mine lasted about 6 months, recently had one or two. Other then that, its pretty clear right now. They are a pain to deal with, other then that, no big deal really.

[ALeeD]

Is there a blood test that could detect the virus molluscum contagiosum?  If not, perhaps there is a test which could detect the abscence or prescence of a virus like molluscum to indirectly detect it?  What is the name of the blood tests?  What about skin tests?  My symptoms for the most part seem to indicate I don't have it, yet I've been waiting for the one month period of time and being carefull.  How carefull must I be in public, etc.  Please refer to my previous 2 questions.