Clinical and virologic studies on female genital herpes.

Ninety women with genital herpes were studied clinically and virologically. From a clinical standpoint, these patients could be classified into 3 clinical types--acute, recurrent, and provoked. When herpes simplex virus (HSV) strains isolated from these patients and asymptomatic virus secretors were typed, 36 strains were determined to be type 1 (HSV-1) and the remaining 54 to be type 2 (HSV-2). The acute type was caused by primary infection of HSV-1 or HSV-2 as well as by infection of HSV-2 in the absence of heterologous antibody. In addition, 35 of 40 HSV strains isolated from recurrent, provoked, and asymptomatic virus secretors were identified as HSV-2, suggesting that HSV-2 may play a major role in establishing latent infection in the female genital region.