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Viral skin diseases can take the form of ailments: allergic, autoimmune, cancer and others. However, attention should be paid especially to two groups of diseases caused by the herpes viruses and by the human papillomavirus.
Types of viral skin diseases
1. Herpes simplex. It is an ailment popularly referred to as “cold” or “fever”. It is caused by an infection with the herpes simplex virus, which usually happens between the ages of 1 and 5.
Herpes simplex symptoms
As many as 99% of patients go through herpes simplex without any major symptoms. Symptoms of herpetic stomatitis (fever, vesicles, erosions, drooling), sometimes keratitis, and sometimes herpetic encephalitis and meningitis may occur in 1%. Both patients who had the first infection symptomatically and those who had it asymptomatically remain carriers of the virus in the ganglia for the rest of their lives. In some patients, the infection appears from time to time (usually in the same place and under the influence of the same provoking factors, such as: a cold, overheating or menstruation).
Typical locations for herpes include:
- inhabitant,
- wing of the nose,
- genital area.
Before the first symptoms of the disease appear, the patient experiences a burning and tingling sensation, and after some time, erythema and several or a dozen vesicles with serum fluid appear. After a few days, the vesicles dry to a crust and the lesion heals.
People with active herpes should avoid children with atopic dermatitis, as there is a possibility of massive transmission of infection and dangerous encephalitis. The occurrence of active herpes on the genitals a few days before delivery is an indication for termination of pregnancy by caesarean section. Thanks to this, the newborn is protected against infection.
Treatment
Herpes simplex, mild and rarely recurring, is treated topically with an antiviral preparation. Conversely, severe and frequent relapses require systemic treatment, however, even long-term treatment cannot completely remove the virus from the body.
2. Shingles
The herpes zoster virus, on first exposure, causes an infectious disease known as chicken pox, then the virus remains latent. After a few years, usually in the presence of immune deficiency, the virus becomes active, causing shingles. It then spreads to the skin along the sensory nerves, so that the skin lesions assume a characteristic arrangement on one side of the body, in a zone innervated by one or two nerves.
symptoms
The first sign that suggests shingles is skin hyperaesthesia and a tingling sensation. Then it appears:
- erythema,
- serous vesicles,
- erosions and scabs,
- haemorrhagic or necrotic changes (may occur in more severe course),
- nerwobóle
The location of shingles on the forehead and eyelids is the most dangerous, as changes can develop on the cornea of the eye, which can lead to total blindness. That is why it is important to have a checkup with an ophthalmologist, as changes in the cornea like to appear much later than skin changes.
Shingles should be treated under medical supervision. Patients are most often given general and topical preparations.
3. Cutaneous warts
Human papillomaviruses come in over a hundred different types. Many of them have proven carcinogenic effects (especially in the area of the mucous membranes of the genital tract), others are suspected of it, and still others cause benign skin growths such as warts.
a) common warts: single or multiple papules and nodules, with an uneven, keratinized surface and a non-inflammatory base. The most common locations are: hands, fingers, feet, nail shafts and the area under the nails.
b) sore warts on the soles: a special type of large, painful plantar warts, which we most often get infected with in the swimming pool. It is characteristic of spontaneous disappearance (preceded by black discoloration) and resilience.
c) flat warts (youthful): they are usually very numerous, they resemble small lumps with a flat surface, are yellow-brown in color and most often located on the face or hands.
Check what is the so-called the triangle of death
4. Genital warts: pedunculated, cauliflower-shaped nodules, and sometimes tumors located on the genitals and around the anus. Infection can be sexually transmitted.
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