Congenital absence of scalp skin and herpes simplex virus. A case report.

A male infant, born at 40 weeks' gestation of a 27-year-old mother, presented at delivery with three scalp lesions, 2 to 4 cm in diam, covered with necrotic tissue and devoid of hair. The infant was born by natural vertex delivery within 2 hours of membrane rupture; birth weight was 3,300 g and Apgar score 10. There were no other skin lesions, and physical and neurological examinations were normal. Herpes simplex virus Type 2 was isolated from the lesions and the mother's cervix. High titers of IgG and IgM antibodies in the serum of mother and infant indicated an intrauterine infection. The skin ulcers healed within 1 month, with gradual epithelization and formation of a hairless atrophic scar.