[Prophylaxis and treatment of alpha herpesvirus infection--vaccine]

Vaccines for human alpha herpesviruses were reviewed. To prevent recurrent genital herpes, inactivated virion vaccines, subunit vaccines, live vectored vaccines, genetically-attenuated live virus vaccines, and DNA vaccines have been developed for herpes simplex virus(HSV). Although clinical studies of these vaccines were reported, successful results have not been confirmed. Further improvements in target genes, adjuvants, and vaccine strategies are necessary for clinically useful HSV vaccines. To prevent varicella, a live attenuated vaccine(Oka strain) was developed in Japan and is now widely used in the world.