Fatal systemic herpes simplex virus type 2 infection in a healthy young woman.
A previously healthy 28-year-old woman without historic or anatomic evidence of immunologic defect had a genital herpes simplex virus infection that rapidly progressed to systemic disease, with death 12 days after the onset of illness. Herpes simplex virus type 2 was isolated from the liver and spleen and was also shown by direct immunofluorescence in the liver and spleen, but not in the brain. We have found no previously reported instance of death from this virus in a young adult uncompromised immunologically.
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006558:Herpes Genitalis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology