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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Microbiological Rapid On-Site Evaluation for Pulmonary Infectious Diseases
Published on: March 1, 2024
Herpes simplex virus type-1 pneumonitis in immunocompetent young woman
1Department of Clinical Laboratories, Morris Hospital, Morris, Illinois, USA.
Abstract:
A healthy young woman presented with an overwhelming hyperacute herpes simplex virus-1 pneumonia that dramatically responded to intravenous acyclovir. It is postulated that the infection was a reactivation of latent virus in the vagal ganglia, in the absence of retrograde extension of herpes labialis/gingivostomatitis, or hematogenous spread from extragenital and other sources of infection. It is also postulated that the patient's amazing improvement overnight was a real-time coincidence of spontaneous recovery from the viral infection and prompt initiation of acyclovir treatment.
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