High prevalence of herpes simplex virus type 1 in female anogenital herpes simplex in Newcastle upon Tyne 1983-92.

This retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of the viral types and temporal epidemiology in patients with ano-genital herpes between 1983-92. One thousand one hundred and thirty-five patients with anogenital herpes were available for analysis. The annual incidence of anogenital herpes nearly tripled over the period of 7 years (1986-92) from 59 to 171 cases. The percentage of HSV-1 infection in female cases (63-79%) was much higher than in other reported studies and remained relatively constant over the study period.