Histopathologic findings in cutaneous cytomegalovirus infection

When cytomegalovirus (CMV) involves the skin, viral inclusions are typically present within mesenchymal cells, e.g., endothelial cells, fibrocytes, and sometimes within inflammatory cells, e.g., macrophages, in contrast to infection in other organs in which inclusions are usually present within ductal epithelial cells. Two cases of cutaneous CMV are presented, one showing prominent findings within eccrine ductal epithelium and the other revealing mostly endothelial cells affected by CMV. Due to the range of cytologic changes induced by CMV observed in these cases, there seem to be early, fully developed, and late cellular changes brought about by CMV analogous to how herpesvirus (varicella, zoster, simplex) induces different changes depending on its stage of infection.