Fulminant Hepatic Failure Caused by Genital Herpes in a Healthy Person
- Michael H. Rubin, MD;
- Demming M. Ward, MD;
- C. John Painter, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
GENITAL herpes caused by herpes simplex virus, type 2 (HSV-2), has become an increasingly recognized infection in the sexually active population.1 Among prostitutes,2 homosexuals,3 and members of both sexes who attend venereal disease clinics,4 the incidence of genital herpes has become alarmingly high, approaching epidemic proportions. Although the infectious nature and distinctive clinical symptom complex of herpes were recognized by the early Greeks, sexual transmission was not emphasized until the late 19th century. That the causative agents responsible for "venereal herpes" and for fever blisters were separate was initially demonstrated in the 1920s by Lipschutz, but this fact was submerged and did not resurface until 1968, when Nahmias and Dowdle5 antigenically characterized the two serotypes, HSV-1 and HSV-2.
The herpes virus in other tissues has been reported.6-13 The early literature concerning herpetic hepatitis dealt mainly with the immunosuppressed individual.6 Recently, there have been
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Salem Gastroenterology Associates, 1830 S Hawthorne Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27103 (Dr Rubin).
