A Prospective Study of New Infections with Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 and Type 2

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are endemic throughout the world. 1 – 3 In both point-prevalence and prospective studies, a large percentage of persons who are seropositive for HSV type 1 (HSV-1) or HSV type 2 (HSV-2) have no clinical manifestations of the disease. 3 – 6 Many of the clinical characteristics of symptomatic genital HSV are similar to those of other conditions, such as nongonococcal urethritis in men, 7 – 10 nonchlamydial urethritis 11 and recurrent vaginitis 7 in women, and neurologic diseases, including aseptic meningitis. 12 , 13 No studies have prospectively defined the relative frequency of symptomatic or asymptomatic HSV infection and the relative proportions of typical . . .