PATIENT RECOGNITION OF RECRUDESCENT HERPES LABIALIS - A CLINICAL AND VIROLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to ascertain how accurate th e general public was at diagnosing the condition of recrudescent herpe s labialis. Methods: An advertisement was placed in a local newspaper inviting patients to attend the Oral Medicine Clinic as soon as they t hought they developed the clinically evident stage of herpes labialis. At the clinic, patients were examined to confirm the clinical presenc e of herpes labialis and also had a swab of the lesion(s) taken for vi rus culture. Virus culture was by the HEP-2 culture technique capable of detecting both herpes simplex Type 1 and herpes simplex Type 2. Pat ients also completed a detailed questionnaire concerning their knowled ge of herpes labialis. Results: In total, 41 patients attended for scr eening. The findings were that all patients had clinical herpes labial is, and herpes simplex virus was isolated in 96% of cases. In contrast , in only about 50% of cases were patients aware that their herpes lab ialis was caused by a virus. Conclusions: The general public are very good at recognizing herpes labialis lesions but need to be given more information about their infectivity. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd.