Isolation of Herpes simplex virus from human trigeminal ganglia, including ganglia from one patient with multiple sclerosis.

Herpes-simplex virus (H.S.V.) was isolated from 18 of 39 trigeminal ganglia (T.G.) obtained within 12 h of death. The virus was isolated from ten persons who had died of trauma, from one case of lymphoma, and from one case of multiple sclerosis. In the cadaver with histologically confirmed multiple sclerosis, large bilateral areas of demyelination were present near the points of entry of the nerve root, and the possibility that H.S.V. migration to the root entry zone caused demyelination cannot be excluded.