Is pemphigus vulgaris contagious?

Superinfection can develop in the context of pemphigus vulgaris. This is contagious, while pemphigus vulgaris itself is not contagious. This means that pemphigus vulgaris cannot be transmitted from person to person.

However, a hereditary predisposition is suspected to be a part of the cause. If family members suffer or have suffered from pemphigus vulgaris, it is more likely that their descendants can also contract the disease. Pemphigus vulgaris can in principle affect all people of any ethnicity, age and sex. However, it has been found that the disease occurs in certain groups of people, in addition or in addition to the familial incidence. This concerns people of Mediterranean descent, people who live in the Brazilian rainforest, Eastern European Jews and people of middle or old age.

How to treat pemphigus vulgaris

For the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris, a distinction is made between external, local therapy and internal, systemic therapy. The external, local therapy serves to relieve the symptoms. It does not treat the cause of the disease.

The disease cannot be stopped by the symptomatic treatment. Depending on which part of the body is affected, different preparations are used. For local, external treatment, various antiseptic or partially cortisone-containing ointments, eye drops and mouth rinses are used.

The aim of internal, systemic therapy is to suppress the excessive reactions of the immune system. Glucocorticoids are used for this purpose. Here, maximum doses are only temporarily chosen for acute complaints.

In the case of a permanent treatment, an attempt is made to keep the dosage as low as possible in order to limit side effects. Additionally, immunosuppressive drugs such as azathioprine are used. For advanced or severely developed pemphigus vulgaris, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine A and methotrexate are used.

If cortisone preparations and immunosuppressvia are not effective, immunoglobulins are given. These are antibodies that influence certain processes in the body. Since they are proteins, the antibodies cannot be taken orally in tablet form, but must be injected into the vein.

A further treatment, which is not in tablet form but via an infusion, is the treatment with biologicals. Rituximab in particular is used here if all other measures are ineffective. In some cases, immunoadsorption or plasmapheresis is advisable.

In this case, the disease-causing autoantibodies are filtered out of the patient’s blood. This is done by a special machine. Plasmapheresis is not as effective as immunoadsorption and has therefore become less important.

Often several drugs and measures are combined with each other. In addition, the basis of the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris is the instruction in a careful handling of the skin. Patients should care for their skin accordingly and avoid major skin stress.

For example, clothing should not be worn too tightly, excessive sunlight should be avoided and sports with skin contact should be avoided. In the meantime, the prognosis has improved. Since the cause has not yet been fully clarified, a complete cure is not possible.

But with certain drugs and measures, the destructive processes in the body can be suppressed. This can slow down and alleviate the course of the disease.The life span and quality of the patients could be increased many times over. Nevertheless, 5-10% of patients worldwide still die as a result of the disease.