Herpes-like symptoms for Mollusass Contagiosum?

[WIBMan]

About a month after protected sex with a woman who has no known STD issues, I developed a sore on my inner thigh, maybe four inches from the top of my leg. This started out as a small red sore, grew into a large (maybe 3 mm across, 2 mm tall off the skin?) sore, split and leaked clear pus, then healed over. This whole process took 5-6 days before it just looked like irritated skin. This was followed by a second sore much further up the leg (basically the crotch) that did the same thing (but was somewhat smaller), then a third developed considerably higher up (above my pubic hair) nearer the opposite leg from the first two (this one smaller still). These sores, taken in isolation, looked like pictures of herpes sores (though never in clusters).

All of this was followed up with a rash of much smaller sores that did not follow the above course but instead stay small and go away. These are spread all around my legs and crotch.

I got over my initial terror yesterday and went to see a doctor. She diagnosed the small sores as Mollusass Contagiosum, treated them in the office, and gave me instructions on how to deal with them until they're gone. This is all well and good, and a relief, but I'm still concerned about the initial sores that behaved very differently from the new ones. The doctor did not seem concerned with my description of them (they are long gone, so she couldn't look at them) and felt that they were particularly bad MCV or a secondary infection. But to me, they really looked like herpes symptoms, and I haven't seen anything on the web to make me think that MCV could run that type of course.

That said, I know that the body can react in strange ways to new viral attacks, and I'd like to get a second opinion on the feasibility of that explanation. I understand that research on MCV is lacking, but is it likely that MCV could cause the symptoms that I described above? Or is it more likely that the MCV is coincidental to something more serious that I started with?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Before I even read your question, responding only to the title you gave this thread:  Herpes and molluscum are not easily confused.  The symptoms are quite different and very easy for any health care provider to tell apart.

Now to read your questions....

The 3 initial lesions you describe (thigh, crotch, lower abdomen) clearly were not herpes.  Those are atypical locations, and herpes doesn't move around like that from one place to another.  Those lesions also do not sound like molluscum contagiosum.  Second, if a doctor says the lesions are MCV, that's what they are.  There is no reason to doubt her diagnosis.

Most likely the initial lesions had nothing to do with the sexual exposure you describe.  They sound like folliculitis or other superficial skin infection, like strep or staph.

Bottom line:  Your partner needs to be told you had MCV, so she can be on the lookout for similar lesions.  Other than that, if that infection clears up, I think you have nothing you need to worry about.

Good luck--  HHH, MD