Diagnosis of Molluscum Contagiosum is based on which methods?

• A. PCR from saliva
• B. Blood test
• C. Clinical findings and microscopic inspection
• D. Culture of lesion scrapings

Answer: (C)

Diagnosis is usually made from how the lesions look and what the scraped material shows under the microscope. Molluscum contagiosum presents as firm, dome-shaped papules with a central dimple, a pattern that often lets clinicians identify it without further tests. If confirmation is needed, examining material from a lesion reveals Molluscum bodies—eosinophilic, intraepithelial inclusion bodies in keratinocytes—which is a distinctive finding.

Blood tests or saliva PCR don’t provide a reliable or practical diagnosis for this infection, and routine culture of lesion scrapings isn’t used because the virus is not readily cultured in standard labs. So the combination of clinical appearance plus microscopic inspection of the lesion is the most straightforward and reliable approach.