[Atopic dermatitis and pox-virus superinfections (author's transl)]

Subjects afflicted with atopic dermatitis are particularly predisposed to such viral superinfections as verruca, herpes (eczema herpeticum) and vaccinia (eczema vaccinatum). Knowledge of superinfection by the molluscum contagiosum virus is more recent and the authors describe one case. The orf virus (responsible for ovine ecthyma contagiosum), however, has never been described as responsible for the profuse superinfection of an atopic eczema. The authors observed one case of this in a child, atypical as result of his age (16 months), the cervical localization and the aspect, which was a telangiectasic granuloma type of the initial element, and finally of the satellization observed one week later. This child suffered from a generalized atopic eczema. Propagation of the orf lesions could have been favored by scratching, local corticoid treatment and by the deficit in cellular immunity observed in patient with atopic dermatitis. Indeed, viral superinfections, which are unusual by their profusion or their chronic nature, are often observed in immunodepressed subjects.