[Pathological anatomy of a herpes infection caused by herpes simplex type 2 virus in infants]

Materials of autopsies of 52 children suffering from severe herpetic infection, intrauterine as a rule, were analysed. The etiology of the process was proved by immunofluorescent and serological examinations. The disease was markedly generalized, however, with predominant involvement of the liver, lungs, and central nervous system of the type of pneumonia, hepatitis and encephalomyelitis. Early in the disease, changes of alveolocytes, hepatocytes, and other epitheliocytes were observed, consisting primarily in a peculiar alteration of their nuclei. Simultaneously, moderate signs of inflammation were observed, but in most severe cases it was alterative.