30th July 2026

Aetiology

The exact pathogenesis of EM remains unclear but the underlying mechanism is proposed to be a type IV hypersensitivity reaction caused by cytotoxic T cells. A number of different causes exist, summarised in the table below.


Infectious	Medication-related	Other
HSV type 2	Antibiotics	Inflammatory Bowel Disease
SARS-CoV-2	Anti-epileptics	Hepatitis C
Orf	NSAIDS	Leukaemia
Vulvoginal candidiasis	Vaccinations	Lymphoma
Influenza virus		Malignancy
Epstein-Barr Virus
Cytomegalovirus

Table 1: Causes of erythema multiforme

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