Is there a lump on the wall of your mouth?

Getting sick is a very common phenomenon in our lives. For example, some people suddenly grow a lump in their mouth. If this phenomenon is acute, it is generally necessary to consider that it may be caused by herpes virus infection. If it exists for a long time, you need to go to the hospital for examination to see if it is caused by polyps or soft tissue hyperplasia. If you want thorough treatment, you generally need to go to the oral department for further examination to confirm the diagnosis.

Oral herpes virus differential diagnosis

1) Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

A mucocutaneous disease caused by infection with coxsackievirus A16. Prodromal symptoms include fever, drowsiness and local lymphadenopathy; then scattered blisters, papules and macules appear on the oral mucosa, palms and soles, with varying numbers. There is a red halo around the macules, with no obvious tenderness. In the center are small blisters, which quickly become ulcers and heal after 5 to 10 days.

2) Herpetic pharyngitis

Oral herpes lesions caused by infection with Coxsackievirus A4 have clinical manifestations similar to those of acute herpetic gingivostomatitis, but the prodromal phase and systemic reactions are milder. The lesions are only distributed in the back of the mouth, such as the soft palate, uvula, and tonsils. They are clusters of small blisters and break into ulcers.

3) Trigeminal herpes zoster

Lesions of the facial skin and oral mucosa caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The blisters are larger and clustered together, arranged in bands along the branches of the trigeminal nerve but not beyond the midline.

Pathological characteristics: Blisters are formed in the epithelium, which are caused by ballooning degeneration and reticular liquefaction of epithelial cells. The epithelial cells of balloon degeneration are significantly swollen and round in shape, with one or more nuclei or no nucleus.

1. Fluid accumulates in the spinous layer of the epithelium to form blisters, which are herpes blisters or viral blisters.

2. The nuclei of the epithelial cells at the base of the blister undergo polymorphic changes and become balloon-like. The cell nucleus contains viral inclusion bodies.

3. Exfoliative cytological examination of viral blisters revealed a large number of ground-glass nuclei. The nuclei are large and the staining is turbid and uniform. The nuclear membrane is densely stained due to the marginal accumulation of chromatin.

Causes of oral herpes virus infection

1. Herpes simplex

The disease is caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV), a DNA virus. Human herpes simplex virus is divided into two types, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-I) and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-II). In the past, it was believed that HSV-1 mainly caused skin and mucous membrane lesions above the waist, and HSV-2 mainly affected the area below the waist. However, many studies have shown that HSV-2 virus has been isolated from the mouths of oral herpes simplex infections and even healthy people, which may be related to changes in lifestyle.

2. Shingles

The pathogen of shingles is a DNA herpes virus, which is the same as the varicella virus, also known as varicella-zoster virus (VZV), and is a neurotropic virus.

3. Hand, foot and mouth disease

Enteroviruses that cause hand, foot and mouth disease include enterovirus (EV) and certain serotypes of group A coxsackievirus (CoxA) echovirus (Echo). EV infection causes a large proportion of severe cases.