SIX YEARS EXPERIENCE WITH HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS IN A CHILDREN'S HOME1

Cesario, T. C, J. D. Poland, H. Wulff, T. D. Y. Chin (Ecological Investigations Program, National Communicable Disease Center, Kansas City, Kansas 66103) and H. A. Wenner. Six years experience with herpes simplex virus in a children's home. Amer. J. Epid., 1969, 90; 416–422.—A 6-year study of the epidemiology of virus infections in a children's home revealed 32.1% of the children shed herpes simplex virus at least once. Episodes of non-primary shedding occurred at intervals varying from 2 to 45 months, lasted as long as 5 months, and rarely led to rises in the neutralizing antibody titer. Herpes labialis was an infrequent physical finding despite the frequent isolation of the virus. In only 35% of the cases could illness be implicated as activating herpes simplex virus. Fifty-one % of the children entering the home had neutralizing antibodies for herpes simplex virus; only eight of 70 initially seronegative children experienced primary infections while in the home.