Epidermal multinucleated giant cells are not always a histopathologic clue to a herpes virus infection: multinucleated epithelial giant cells in the epidermis of lesional skin biopsies from patients with acantholytic dermatoses can histologically mimic a herpes virus infection

Ophthalmic manifestations of monkeypox infection

After the global COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an alarming concern with the monkeypox (mpox) outbreak, which has affected more than 110 countries worldwide. Monkeypox virus is a doublestranded DNA virus of the genus Orthopox of the Poxviridae family, which causes this zoonotic disease. Recently, the mpox outbreak was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Monkeypox patients can present with ophthalmic manifestation and ophthalmologists have a role to play in managing this rare entity. Apart from causing systemic involvement such as skin lesions, respiratory infection and involvement of body fluids, Monkeypox related ophthalmic disease (MPXROD) causes varied ocular manifestations such as lid and adnexal involvement, periorbital and lid lesion, periorbital rash, conjunctivitis, blepharocounctivitis and keratitis. A detailed literature review shows few reports on MPXROD infections with limited overview on management strategies. The current review article is aimed to provide the ophthalmologist with an overview of the disease with a spotlight on ophthalmic features. We briefly discuss the morphology of the MPX, various modes of transmission, an infectious pathway of the virus, and the host immune response. A brief overview of the systemic manifestations and complications has also been elucidated. We especially highlight the detailed ophthalmic manifestations of mpox, their management, and prevention of vision threatening sequelae.

Clinico-Pathological Study of 4 Cases of Pseudoherpetic Grover Disease: The Same as Vesicular Grover Disease

INTRODUCTION

Grover disease (GD) was described with 4 histopathological patterns, but later wide histopathological studies found additional ones including vesicular GD. From 2014, 2 new patterns, GD with epidermolytic hyperkeratosis and pseudoherpetic GD, have been proposed.

OBJECTIVES

The authors present 4 cases of pseudoherpetic GD and review the 6 previously published cases to better characterize this variant clinically and histopathologically.

RESULTS

Half of the patients were men. Mean age at diagnosis was 70, 25 years old. All the patients were immunosuppressed, and 75% of them were treated with chemotherapy. Lesions were asymptomatic or itchy papules sometimes crusted and intermingled with isolated vesicles or pustules mostly in the trunk. Skin biopsies showed intraepidermal vesicles filled with plasma (50%) with floating grouped acantholytic cells. No viral inclusions were found, and immunostaining for herpes virus and varicella zoster was negative.

DISCUSSION

Vesicular pattern in GD is described exclusively from a histopathological point of view, and it is defined as the presence of an intraepidermal vesicle filled with plasma and with dyskeratotic cells in the upper part of the vesicle. After reviewing all the described cases, pseudoherpetic GD presents the same histopathological features than vesicular GD, but authors paid attention to the presence of grouped acantholytic cells mimicking multinucleated cells of herpes infection. The authors consider that the so-called pseudoherpetic GD is a vesicular GD, where clinical suspicion of varicella raises this differential diagnosis and leads us to check viral nuclear cytopathic changes, and the authors favor the use of vesicular GD in the dermatopathologist report.