Epidemiology

Abstract

In 1930, Andrewes and Carmichael observed that about three-fourths of a group of 53 normal adults possessed neutralizing antibody to herpes simplex virus and that 7 patients with frequently recurring herpes labialis all had antibody in their sera. Later studies by Dodd et al. (1938) and Burnet and Williams (1939) showed that children without neutralizing antibody developed stomatitis as a result of infection with herpes simplex virus; on recovery these children developed antibodies against the virus. Thus, it was soon realized that the population is divided into two groups with respect to the natural diseases caused by herpes simplex virus: (1) One group does not possess antibody against the virus and is susceptible to primary infection; (2) a second group does possess antibody and is subject to recurrent infection.