Conditions

The most common conditions are as follows:

• Herpes labialis: Infection occurs when the virus comes into contact with oral mucosa or abraded skin.

• Herpes genitalis: When symptomatic, the typical manifestation of a primary HSV-1 or HSV-2 genital infection is clusters of inflamed papules and vesicles on the outer surface of the genitals resembling cold sores.

• Herpetic whitlow: Herpes whitlow is a painful infection that typically affects the fingers or thumbs. Occasionally infection occurs on the toes or on the nail cuticle.

• Herpes gladiatorum: Individuals that participate in contact sports such as wrestling, rugby, and soccer sometimes acquire a condition caused by HSV-1 known as herpes gladiatorum, scrumpox, wrestler’s herpes, or mat herpes, which presents as skin ulceration on the face, ears, and neck, fever, headache, sore throat and swollen glands. It occasionally affects the eyes or eyelids.

• Herpetic keratitis: Primary infection typically presents as swelling of the conjunctiva and eye-lids (blepharoconjunctivitis), accompanied by small white itchy lesions on the surface of the cornea.

• Herpesviral encephalitis: A herpetic infection of the brain that is thought to be caused by the retrograde transmission of virus from a peripheral site on the face following HSV-1 reactivation, along a nerve axon, to the brain.

• Herpesviral meningitis: HSV-2 is the most common cause of Mollaret’s meningitis, a type of recurrent viral meningitis.

• Neonatal herpes simplex: Neonatal HSV infection is a rare but serious condition, usually caused by vertical transmission of HSV from mother to newborn.

• During immunodeficiency: In patients with a weakened immune system, herpes simplex can cause unusual lesions in the skin. One of the most striking is the appearance of clean linear erosions in skin creases, with the appearance of a knife cut