Free Preview
A Correction Has Been Published

Review Article

Maternal and Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus Infections

Lawrence Corey, M.D., and Anna Wald, M.D., M.P.H.

N Engl J Med 2009; 361:1376-1385October 1, 2009DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra0807633

Whether it is caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 or type 2, neonatal HSV infection is a devastating disease if untreated, and more than 30% of pregnant women in the United States have genital infection with HSV. This review summarizes the current facts on this disease and its early identification and treatment, as well as the prospects for more effective prevention.

Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (PO1 AI-30731, R37 AI-42528, and CA-15704).

Dr. Corey reports receiving consulting fees from AiCuris, which is developing treatments for HSV and cytomegalovirus infections, and from GenPhar for advice on developing a recombinant adenovirus for the prevention of Ebola and Marburg viruses; being listed as a coinventor on several patents describing antigens and epitopes to which T-cell responses to HSV-2 are directed (these proteins have the potential to be used in candidate vaccines against HSV); and receiving fees for serving as the head of the scientific advisory board of Immune Design, including equity shares that are less than 1% ownership. Dr. Wald reports receiving grant support from GlaxoSmithKline, consulting fees from AiCuris, Astellas, Immune Design, and Medigene, and speaking fees from Merck Vaccines.

No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Source Information

From the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, (L.C., A.W.); and the Departments of Medicine (L.C., A.W.), Laboratory Medicine (L.C., A.W.), and Epidemiology (A.W.), University of Washington — both in Seattle.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Corey at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N, LE-500, Seattle, WA 98109, or at .

Access this article: Subscribe to NEJM | Purchase this article

Media in This Article

Figure 1Pathogenesis of Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Infection.
Figure 2Risk of Transmission of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Infection to the Neonate.

Article Activity

97 articles have cited this article