Disseminated Herpes Simplex Virus Infection

THE NATURAL history of herpes simplex virus infection, which has been well established since the virus was first incriminated as a cause of stomatitis in children,¹was reviewed recently.²,³Primary infection occurs most often in a subclinical or clinically unrecognized form in early childhood. If the primary infection is overt it may present in a variety of ways and recovery usually follows, but occasionally permanent damage or death results. The epidemiology of fatal disseminated herpes simplex virus infection occuring in children after the neonatal period has been reviewed and the association with malnutrition and measles stressed.⁴Little is known about the pathogenesis of this fatal form of infection which was initially recognized in Cape Town, South Africa in 1957.⁵Detailed virological and pathological studies have been carried out in 33 cases, including one neonate, seen in the subsequent nine years, and results of these studies are