Pityriasis Rosea associated with herpesvirus 7 DNA

Pityriasis rosea evidence for and against an infectious aetiology

“…However, these positive results were not confirmed by most other investigators [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. Kempf et al [43] detected HHV-7 DNA and expression of HHV-7-specific immunodominant pp85 antigen in only 1 (8 %) out of 13 lesional biopsy specimens of PR and in 2 (14 %) out of 14 biopsy specimens of control subjects.…”

The detection of human herpesvirus‐8 DNA in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells in adult patients with pityriasis rosea by polymerase chain reaction

“…As most studies investigating such association employed DNA sequence detection techniques, we applied the guidelines of Fredericks and Relman 40 which take into account the extremely high sensitivities of nucleic acid amplification methods. We found that only Criteria 1 (nucleic acid sequences should be present in most cases of the disease, preferably in diseased organs or anatomic sites and not in organs that lack pathology) and Criteria 2 (fewer or no number of sequences to be present in hosts or tissues without the disease) are fulfilled by findings of some investigators 1–7 but not other investigators 8–17 . Criteria 3 (number of sequences should decrease with disease resolution, and increase with relapse) and Criteria 6 (tissue‐sequence correlates should be sought at cellular level, e.g.…”

The role of human herpesvirus 6, human herpesvirus 7, Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus in the aetiology of pityriasis rosea

“…9 On the other hand, there are some other studies which refuse this presumption. 6,[16][17][18][19] The strongest evidence against the infectious aetiology is the lack of an infectious agent that has been shown to be involved in the aetiopathogenesis of the disease. Viral infectious agents have been the most popular agents that have been investigated in patients with PR.…”

“…[15][16][17][18][19]23,24 Kosuge et al 23 have performed PCR and indirect immunofluorescence tests for HHV-6 and HHV-7 in 44 PR-diagnosed patients and 25 patients with other skin disorders and they concluded that HHV-6 and HHV-7 may play a role in some PRdiagnosed patients, but other causative agents may exist.…”

“…Yoshida et al 24 reported that HHV-7 DNA signal intensity was almost equal in the blood specimens of the 4 PR-diagnosed patients and 3 healthy control subjects. Offidani et al 18 studied HHV-7 DNA in urine, saliva, PBMC, scales of 12 PR-diagnosed patients and 20 control subjects. HHV-7 DNA was negative in all urine, PBMC and scale specimens.…”