A retrospective study of recurrent herpes labialis (RHL) in a professional population, 1958-1971.

A retrospective 12-year investigation of 1,788 professional school students from the schools of medicine, veterinary medicine, dental medicine, nursing, and dental hygiene was conducted by the mailed distribution of questionnaires requesting information on current and prior disease history of recurrent herpes labialis (RHL). Because of changes in address, death, loss of married names, and unwillingness to participate in the investigation, only 683 proband subjects were available for the follow-up study. The data suggested a trend toward a decrease in the prevalence and severity of RHL during the interval of study: only slightly more than one firth (23.9 per cent) of the proband population of the present study experienced RHL as compared with almost two fifths (39.6 per cent) at the time when they were students.