Herpes genitalis in patients attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases.

In a prospective study of 210 patients attending a hospital-based sexually transmitted disease clinic, we documented the prevalence of genital herpes infection (GHI) and its association with gonococcal infection (GI). Herpes simplex virus type 2 was cultured from 58% of symptomatic patients and 0.5% of asymptomatic patients.The ratio of GI to GHI was 41:31 by clinical criteria. The laboratory-confirmed ratio was 41:18. These ratios are much higher than those normally used to estimate the caseload of GHI.