scope:

Preface

Ubiquitous viruses among humans, herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are believed to be several million years old. Infection by these viruses may cause various conditions ranging from mucocutaneous disease to more severe afflictions of the central nervous system (CNS) or life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. Physicians from almost all medical specialties will encounter patients with HSV infections that may require treatment. Recently acquired knowledge of pathogenesis and diagnostics in already described clinical diseases caused by HSV, as well as identification of new syndromes or diseases where herpes simplex may or may not play a causal role, may be unknown to a large proportion of medical personnel.

This book on HSV not only summarizes the clinical aspects of HSV infections, but also throws light on basic molecular virology to facilitate a better understanding of different disease manifestations. The purpose of this volume is to compile diagnostics and management of patients with HSV infections with basic virology relevant to an understanding of pathogenetic mechanisms. This book will be a good aid to clinicians treating patients with HSV infections, as well as diagnostic microbiologists who will find suitable and updated information for their respective professions.

The first chapter of Section I deals with the evolution of the viruses followed by an update on the natural course of primary and recurrent infections as well as epidemiology. The next chapter concerns pathogenesis in different experimental and clinical manifestations of HSV infections. The following chapter on diagnostics demonstrates the improvement in this field that has occurred over the last decennium, mainly due to the introduction of genome detection by PCR, and to the development of new and typediscriminating serological methods. The second, more clinical, part of the book begins with a chapter on treatment of HSV infections utlilizing established as well as new drugs where clinical trials are ongoing. The subsequent chapters document the different disease manifestations of HSV infections, including their prognosis and treatment.

In separate chapters, well-known diseases such as gingivostomatitis, recurrent labial infection, HSV infections of the skin, acute and recurrent genital infection, and ocular infection are described. CNS diseases such as herpes simplex encephalitis and meningo/radiculo/myelitis, as well as diseases recently discovered to be caused by herpes simplex such as paresis of the facial nerve are covered. HSV infections in immunocompromised patients and in pregnant women including congenital and neonatal infections are specially addressed in later parts of the book. Lastly, recent advances in prevention of infection and disease by vaccination and future outlooks in HSV research are discussed.