Prevalence of Molluscum Contagiosum in students of elementary schools of Kerman

Molluscum contagiosum is an infectious viral disease. The necessity to do this research in primary school of Kerman is mainly based on the high occurrence of the molluscum contagiosum (MC) among children, though an increase of the incidence of MC in adults with AIDS and immune deficiencies has also been reported. Among 1181 girls and 1440 boys, 75 were infected with MC; 29 (2.45%) and 46 (3.1%) cases were infected respectively, however these differences were not statistically significant. The effect of factors such as age, sex, parent’s level of education and occupation, and the size of family on the incidence of MC were studied. In this research the overall incidence of MC was 2.9%, but the highest rate of incidence was among children at the age of 6. Furthermore the incidence among children in public schools were more than private schools and children from families with low education and also larger families was higher, though these differences were not statistically significant.