Global and Regional Estimates of Prevalent and Incident Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Infections in 2012

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) commonly causes orolabial ulcers, while HSV-2 commonly causes genital ulcers. However, HSV-1 is an increasing cause of genital infection. Previously, the World Health Organization estimated the global burden of HSV-2 for 2003 and for 2012. The global burden of HSV...

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Published in:PloS one Vol. 10; no. 10; p. e0140765
Main Authors: Looker, Katharine J., Magaret, Amalia S., May, Margaret T., Turner, Katherine M. E., Vickerman, Peter, Gottlieb, Sami L., Newman, Lori M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 28.10.2015
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
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Summary:Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) commonly causes orolabial ulcers, while HSV-2 commonly causes genital ulcers. However, HSV-1 is an increasing cause of genital infection. Previously, the World Health Organization estimated the global burden of HSV-2 for 2003 and for 2012. The global burden of HSV-1 has not been estimated. We fitted a constant-incidence model to pooled HSV-1 prevalence data from literature searches for 6 World Health Organization regions and used 2012 population data to derive global numbers of 0-49-year-olds with prevalent and incident HSV-1 infection. To estimate genital HSV-1, we applied values for the proportion of incident infections that are genital. We estimated that 3709 million people (range: 3440-3878 million) aged 0-49 years had prevalent HSV-1 infection in 2012 (67%), with highest prevalence in Africa, South-East Asia and Western Pacific. Assuming 50% of incident infections among 15-49-year-olds are genital, an estimated 140 million (range: 67-212 million) people had prevalent genital HSV-1 infection, most of which occurred in the Americas, Europe and Western Pacific. The global burden of HSV-1 infection is huge. Genital HSV-1 burden can be substantial but varies widely by region. Future control efforts, including development of HSV vaccines, should consider the epidemiology of HSV-1 in addition to HSV-2, and especially the relative contribution of HSV-1 to genital infection.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Conceived and designed the experiments: KJL LMN. Performed the experiments: KJL. Analyzed the data: KJL ASM MTM KMET PV SLG LMN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KJL ASM MTM KMET PV. Wrote the paper: KJL ASM MTM KMET PV SLG LMN. Contributed to the ongoing progress and direction of the research: KJL ASM MTM KMET PV SLG LMN. Provided technical expertise and input: KJL ASM MTM KMET PV SLG LMN.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0140765