Herpes simplex infection of the female genital tract. I. Incidence of infection

In our continuing effort to elucidate the relation-ship between infection of the female genital tract with herpes simplex virus ( Herpesvirus hominis) and cervical carcinoma, we have been studying and comparing the biologic charac~eristics of strains of herpesvirus isolated from genital and nongenital sites. This relationship has also been investigated by Naib [1] and Rawls et al. [2]. Bot~ groups found a positive correlation between eVI-dence of genital infection with herpesvirus and the development of cervical neoplasia. A previous report [3] indicated that a group of approximately 500 women with a relatively high risk of develop-ing cervical carcinoma had a 1.6 % rate.of geni~al infection with herpesvirus compared WIth an In