A maculopapular rash is a type of

rash A rash is a change of the skin that affects its color, appearance, or texture. A rash may be localized in one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, chapped, dry, cracke ...

characterized by a flat, red area on the skin that is covered with small confluent bumps. It may only appear red in lighter-skinned people. The term "maculopapular" is a compound: '' macules'' are small, flat discolored spots on the surface of the skin; and ''

papule A papule is a small, well-defined bump in the skin lesion, skin. It may have a rounded, pointed or flat top, and may have a umbilication, dip. It can appear with a Peduncle (anatomy), stalk, be thread-like or look warty. It can be soft or firm a ...

s'' are small, raised bumps. It is also described as erythematous, or red. This type of rash is common in several diseases and medical conditions, including

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

Ebola virus disease Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infe ...

rubella Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

, HIV, secondary

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

(Congenital syphilis, which is asymptomatic, the newborn may present this type of rash), erythrovirus ( parvovirus B19), chikungunya (alphavirus), zika,

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

(which has been eradicated), varicella (when vaccinated persons exhibit symptoms from the modified form), heat rash, and sometimes in

Dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after i ...

. It is also a common manifestation of a skin reaction to the antibiotic amoxicillin or

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

drugs. Cutaneous infiltration of leukemic cells may also have this appearance. Maculopapular rash is seen in

graft-versus-host disease Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a syndrome, characterized by inflammation in different organs. GvHD is commonly associated with bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants. White blood cells of the donor's immune system which rema ...

(GVHD) developed after a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant), which can be seen within one week or several weeks after the transplant. In the case of GVHD, the maculopapular lesions may progress to a condition similar to

toxic epidermal necrolysis Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), also known as Lyell's syndrome, is a type of severe skin reaction. Together with Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) it forms a spectrum of disease, with TEN being more severe. Early symptoms include fever and f ...

. In addition, this is the type of rash that some patients presenting with

Ebola virus ''Orthoebolavirus zairense'' or Zaire ebolavirus, more commonly known as Ebola virus (; EBOV), is one of six known species within the genus ''Ebolavirus''. Four of the six known ebolaviruses, including EBOV, cause a severe and often fatal vira ...

hemorrhagic (EBO-Z) fever will reveal but can be hard to see on dark skin people. It is also seen in patients with Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a filovirus not unlike Ebola. This type of rash can be as a result of large doses of niacin or no-flush niacin (2000 – 2500 mg), used for the management of low HDL cholesterol. This type of rash can also be a symptom of Sea bather's eruption. This stinging, pruritic, maculopapular rash affects swimmers in some Atlantic locales (e.g., Florida, Caribbean, Long Island). It is caused by hypersensitivity to stings from the larvae of the sea anemone (e.g., '' Edwardsiella lineate'') or the thimble jellyfish ('' Linuche unguiculata''). The rash appears where the bathing suit contacts the skin. This type of rash can also be a symptom of acute arsenic intoxication, appearing 2 weeks later.

References

{{Reflist Medical terminology Dermatologic terminology

See also

References