An Insight Into Pathogenesis of Herpes Simplex Virus

Abstract

Herpes has been known for at least 2000 years and it is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STD) worldwide. Herpes belong to the family Herpesviridae, which includes dsDNA viruses causing diseases in animals and humans. There are more than 130 herpes virus known, the common eight herpes known to infect humans include: HSV-1 and 2 that cause oral herpes and genital herpes, the virus that causes chickenpox, otherwise known as zoster virus, the Epstein-Barr-Virus associated with several types of cancer, the roseola virus, the cytomegalovirus and the herpes virus associated with Kaposi sarcoma in AIDS patients. A notable characteristic of HSV is that once it infects a host, it often remains as a persistent latent infection for the lifetime which reactivates from time to time, especially when the host becomes immuno-compromised. Despite the fact that much evolutionary development has taken place in antiviral agents in past two decades, viral infection is still remains the cause of significant mortality worldwide. This review article focuses on the pathogenesis by HSV and the recent development in herpes antiviral targets.