Molluscum Contagiosum [Aardvarchaeology]

Published: July 27, 2007, 9:50 am

I've run into an interesting ethical conundrum involving Molluscum contagiosum. It's a viral infection common among kids, where a pox-family virus causes little pale warts that usually remain from six to nine months. Once the last lesion is gone you seem to become resistant, and the complaint is rare in adults. According to Wikipedia, 17% of kids go through it, mostly between the ages of 2 and 12. There's no antiviral treatment: usually nothing is done about molluscum as removal involves the same regime of soaking, mechanical scrubbing and mild corrosive agents as for warts, only you have tens or hundreds of them instead of a single one. Molluscum is painless but contagious and a little ugly: typically the parents will mind it more than the child does. My son picked it up at daycare and eventually passed it on to his kid sister. Yesterday our excellent neighbour from Korea put her kid and mine in the bathtub after they had gotten themselves grimy. When she discovered the molluscum

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