[Sexually transmitted diseases of alpha herpes virus in women]

Among two alpha herpes viruses, Herpes Simplex Virus(HSV) and Varicella Zoster virus(VZV), HSV infects genital sites and is frequently transmitted by sexual contact while VZV has quite different mode of transmission and rarely infects genital site except herpes zoster at the vulva. Genital herpes is the second and the third leading cause of STDs in women and men respectively. While 90% of male genital herpes was caused by HSV-2, 55% of female genital herpes was by HSV-2 and the remaining 45% by HSV-1. As for primary infection of female genital herpes, 60% was caused by HSV-1 and 40% by HSV-2. On the otherhand about 90% of recurrent infection was by HSV-2 suggesting that HSV-2 is closely related to latent infection of the female genital tract.