title: Clinical and serologic features of herpes simplex virus infection in patients with AIDS.
abstract: We studied the natural history of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection and its association with specific serum antibody in a sample of 68 HIV-infected patients with a first episode of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at San Francisco General Hospital in 1986. Seroprevalence was 66 and 77% for HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibody, respectively, by immunoblot assay. Twenty-seven patients had 45 HSV outbreaks diagnosed during 739 patient-months of follow-up. Median frequency of recurrence resulting in a medical visit was once every 6.5 months, and median duration of treated outbreak was 10 days. Fourteen of 48 evaluable patients seropositive for HSV-2 had no outbreak of HSV during a median follow-up of 7.5 months. Our data suggests that neither frequency nor severity of HSV were substantially increased in this group of patients, despite severe immunosuppression caused by HIV. However, validation of these results by a prospective study is required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Safrin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Houlihan
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Cusick
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mills
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology; D000212:Acyclovir / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1; D015498:HIV-2; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008297:Male; D011020:Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / Q000150:complications*; D015995:Prevalence; D012008:Recurrence; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000212:Acyclovir