Cutaneous lesions heralding disseminated cytornegalovirus infection

Abstract

Direct cutaneous involvement has been only rarely recorded in cases of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in compromised hosts, and in most instances has been found at autopsy as part of widely disseminated disease. In only one previous report has an antemortem diagnosis of CMV infection been made by skin biopsy. We present a case in which cutaneous manifestations heralded disseminated CMV infection and skin biopsy provided a diagnosis of CMV infection before the onset of systemic symptoms. (J AM ACAD DERMATOL 7:545-548, 1982.)