Natural history of genital herpes simplex virus type 1 infection.
BACKGROUND
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) has been increasingly reported as a cause of genital herpes, yet there have been few studies on the long-term natural history of this infection. GOAL The goal was to examine the clinical course of genital HSV-1 infection.


METHODS
This was a cohort study of patients presenting with culture-proven primary genital HSV-1 infection.


RESULTS
The median follow-up of the 77 patients was 736 days. The overall rate of recurrences was 1.3/year in the first year of infection, decreasing to 0.7/year in the second year. In the first year of infection, 43% of study patients did not have a recurrence. In the second year of infection, 67% of study patients did not have a recurrence.


CONCLUSIONS
Genital HSV-1 recurs infrequently in most patients, and the rate decreases further in the subsequent years of infection. Because the prognoses of genital HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections differ, determination of the viral type is important for patient counseling.
Engelberg
Rebecca
R
Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Carrell
David
D
Krantz
Elizabeth
E
Corey
Lawrence
L
Wald
Anna
A
D000293:Adolescent; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006558:Herpes Genitalis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence