A retrospective study of 375 patients with genital herpes simplex infections seen between 1973 and 1980

A retrospective survey was performed to study the clinical course of 375 patients with genital herpes simplex infections seen between 1973 and 1980. Genital herpes simplex is increasingly being recognized as a disease of the affluent middle class. Recurrences in this study were most frequently associated with emotional stress (85.9 percent) and by coital friction (66 percent). The enormous psychological burden of this disease resulted in 42 percent of the patients withdrawing from sexual encounters. The study suggests a relatively low index of communicability (25.3 percent) to sexual partners even though neither topical nor systemically administered therapeutic agents seemed to significantly influence the course of disease. When curves were constructed based on patients' statements as to when they experienced a period of protracted remission from disease, 50 percent of those with genital herpes simplex were found to be essentially free of frequently recurring episodes within seven years after the onset of disease.