GENITAL HERPES - HEISENBERG REVISITED

In the confirmation of recurrences of genital herpes, patient defined disease reactivation and virological data hold the scientific high gro und. The influence of the psyche on recurrence rates and perception of recurrences has been largely neglected and marginalised up to the pre sent, possibly because research work in that area has been and continu es to be of poor calibre. However, neglected psychological variables m ay render otherwise relevant clinical trials uninterpretable. Psycholo gical aspects of counselling before testing for serum herpes simplex t ype 2 antibodies are also discussed.