KAPOSI'S VARICELLIFORM ERUPTION

Abstract

SINCE 1941 increased attention has been given to the cause of Kaposi's varicelliform eruption. Esser 1 and Seidenberg 2 in 1941 first contributed evidence that the virus of herpes simplex causes Kaposi's varicelliform eruption in at least some cases. Dermatologic attention has not previously been called to the publication by Esser, who described a small epidemic of this disease in an infants' ward, where 4 children became severely ill, 1 dying as a result of the infection. In 2 of Esser's cases the herpetic virus was recovered and identified by Seidenberg. Other investigators have since published reports of cases in which there has been suggestive or conclusive evidence incriminating the herpetic virus. Conditions of war kept the earlier reports from general attention of American dermatologists, but Barton and Brunsting 3 soon described the results of experimental studies in 2 cases of Kaposi's varicelliform eruption. At about the same time, Lynch