About Molluscum

The molluscum virus enters the body through a tiny break in the skin resulting in localised infection. Molluscum is a skin virus not a blood based virus.

For many people, contact with the virus will produce no symptoms at all because they are immune. In cases where immunity has not developed, molluscum bumps will begin to grow after an incubation period of two to eight weeks.

Molluscum generally infects children, sexually active adults, and people with immune deficiency.

The molluscum contagiosum virus is transmitted by direct contact with an infected person or indirectly via toys, towels or clothing. Child care centers and schools as well as public pools are common places for infection. For mature adolescents and adults sexual contact is also a source - molluscum contagiosum is an STD.

Molluscum begins as tiny pin-sized white/pearly bumps often in clusters of several up to hundreds. Common on the torso, thighs, groin and genital area, molluscum warts can affect all parts of your body and are often associated with dermatitis and ezcema skin rash.

When molluscum infection has occured through sexual contact, the lesions generally concentrate in the genital, pubis, and abdomen area especially on the shaft of the penis, the scrotum, around the vagina and in the groin.

Molluscum contagiosum is a viral infection member of the Pox virus family. Also known as Water Warts or Dell Warts, molluscum is common worldwide with an estimated 170 million sufferers, 3% of the world's population.