ABSTRACT
Primary Herpes Simplex Infections HSV infects the skin and mucosa and travels to neurons of the sensory ganglia, where it causes lifelong latent infection. e virus periodically reactivates, resulting in progeny spread down neurons to axons in spinal or trigeminal nerves, and either to be shed symptomatically in saliva or genital secretions, or to cause disease of the skin, mucosa, and occasionally major organs. Primary HSV-1 infection occurs when a susceptible person, usually a child, comes into close contact with a person with primary or recurrent infection. Primary infection in children is asymptomatic 90% of the time, but can cause a severe herpetic gingivostomatitis that o en requires hospitalization for uid management. Symptoms are more common in adolescents and adults. Most HSV-1 seroconversions occur in the rst 5 years of life, and by adulthood 80% of individuals have HSV-1 antibodies [9]. Symptomatic primary HSV-1 disease is preceded by generalized symptoms that may include fever, headache, malaise, nausea, and vomiting. In the oral cavity, vesicles and ulcers appearing on the oral mucosa is the primary feature coupled with generalized acute marginal gingivitis that occurs 1 or 2 days a er the prodromal symptoms start. e generalized gingivitis is an important clinical feature in the di erential diagnosis. Primary HSV-1 in healthy children is usually a self-limiting disease with fever disappearing in 3 or 4 days and oral lesions healing in 10-20 days.
