Effect of progesterone and pregnancy on the replication of herpes simplex virus type 2 in vivo.

This project involved an investigation into the effect of pregnancy and progesterone on genital Herpes simplex virus (HSV) Type 2 infection in mice, with the aim of establishing whether elevated progesterone level, due either to pregnancy or parenteral administration, makes the vaginal HSV infection all the heavier. The investigation was carried out on three groups of mice, representing three test situations in connection with vaginal HSV infection: the first group consisted of non-pregnant experimental animals administered progesterone in the duration of 6 days and intravaginally infected with the virus on the 7th day; the other group consisted of pregnant mice infected on the 7th day of pregnancy in the same manner as the first group. Investigation in the scope of groups involved the monitoring of mortality in the duration of 20 days, and the rate thus registered was compared with that of the control-group mice which were neither pregnant nor administered progesterone, and which were infected in the same manner as those from the control group. The results of experiments carried out on pregnant and progesterone-administered mice clearly show that experimental animals from these two groups are more susceptible to vaginal HSV Type 2 infection than those from the control group, which means that pregnancy and progesterone have produced the same effect on the in vivo replication of Herpes simplex virus Type 2.