Herpes simplex: treatment and vaccination

Although global attention is correctly focused on addressing the newly arrived COVID-19, a perennial challenge remains from herpes simplex virus (HSV), which has been with us since ancient times. Over 2000 years ago, Hippocrates described spreading skin lesions, and Greek scholars defined the word herpes ‘to creep or crawl’. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus defined the association of mouth ulcers with fever as ‘herpes febralis’, and by the 18^th century, the king of France's physician, Astruc, had described the lesions associated with genital herpes (Whitley and Gnann, 1993).

HSV type 1 (HSV-1) most commonly affects the mouth and lips (Whitley and Gnann, 1993). Gottlieb et al (2017) noted that more than 500 million people globally have genital HSV infection, and HSV type 2 (HSV-2) is the leading cause of genital ulcer disease worldwide. Further, the latent nature of all herpes virus infections presents a challenge in terms of treatment and management.