Nongenital herpes simplex virus type 1 is a common infection usually transmitted during childhood via nonsexual contact. Most of these infections involve the oral mucosa or lips (herpes labialis). The diagnosis of an infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 is usually made by the appearance of the lesions (grouped vesicles or ulcers on an erythematous base) and patient history. However, if un...

The sensitization of herpes simplex virus by immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies was studied. Although herpes simplex virus sensitized by IgG could not be neutralized by IgA antibodies known to neutralize a similar number of unsensitized viruses, this protection could be overcome by larger amounts of IgA antibodies. This suggests that the effective neutralization of herpes simplex virus in ocular...

Human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8)-associated primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is an unusual lymphoma confined to the body cavities, which primarily affects human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive men at high risk for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). We describe two HIV-negative elderly Italian men, who developed pleural HHV-8-positive PEL in association with other diseases (systemic hypertension, colonic c...

An avidin-biotin complex system was compared with three commercially available immunofluorescence kits for serotyping herpes simplex virus isolates from clinical specimens. Sensitivity values showed that the Electro-Nucleonics and Immulok reagents were useful in detecting the presence of virus, whereas the predictive values showed that the Syva and Immulok reagents possessed adequate discrimina...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of herpes viruses in the semen of an asymptomatic male cohort with and without infertility problems and its association with altered semen parameters. DESIGN A prospective randomized study. SETTING Medical school and IVF clinic. PATIENT(S) One hundred seventy-two male patients undergoing routine semen analysis: 80 with normal semen parameters (control...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the cost-effectiveness of routine antenatal screening for herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 in women without a known history of genital herpes. STUDY DESIGN Decision analysis was used to compare 3 treatment strategies to prevent neonatal herpes infection in women without a known history of genital herpes simplex virus: (1) the current standard o...

The development of strains of herpes simplex virus (HSV) resistant to drugs has been reported among the immunocompromised patients. Thus, there is a need to develop new therapeutic agents for HSV infections. We evaluated the anti-HSV activity of Bidens pilosa (B. pilosa), a tropical weed, in tissue culture cells and a mouse model. B. pilosa extract showed potent virucidal activity. It inhibited...

BACKGROUND Postherpetic neuralgia is one of the major complications of herpes zoster caused by the reactivation of varicella-zoster virus and is characterized by severe pain. The authors previously showed the association of a human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotype with postherpetic neuralgia. This study was performed to experimentally confirm the role of MHC haplotype in the dev...

It has been proposed that intervertebral disc degeneration might be caused by low-grade infection. The purpose of the present study was to assess the incidence of herpes viruses in intervertebral disc specimens from patients with lumbar disc herniation. A polymerase chain reaction based assay was applied to screen for the DNA of eight different herpes viruses in 16 patients and two controls. DN...

Comparison of microbicides for efficacy in protecting mice against vaginal challenge with herpes simplex virus type 2, cytotoxicity, antibacterial properties, and sperm immobilization. Candidate microbicide PPCM blocks human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in cell and tissue cultures and prevents genital herpes in a murine model. ACIDFORM inactivates herpes simplex virus and prevents ge...