[Heterogeneity of restriction enzyme cleavage pattern of molluscum contagiosum virus DNA].

The total NDAs obtained from a clinically atypical molluscum contagiosum (MC) found in a 47-year-old, male immunosuppressed renal allograft recipient and from seven MC of usual infantile cases were digested with BamHI restriction enzyme and analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Three different cleavage patterns were observed and tentatively named MCV-a, -b and -c. All the infantile cases were infected by either MCV-a or MCV-b, both of which showed similar cleavage patterns. In contrast, the immunosuppressed patient was infected by MCV-c, whose cleavage pattern was quite different from those of MCV-a and -b. These results clarified the heterogeneity of MCV in Japanese patients with MC and implied the correlation between MCV types and clinical features of MC.