SYSTEMIC HERPES SIMPLEX (KAPOSI'S VARICELLIFORM ERUPTION)

Abstract

Since the development of laboratory procedures which demonstrate its presence, the virus of herpes simplex has been found to be the cause of a wide range of infections. It has been demonstrated in such localized lesions as the common fever blister, aphthous stomatitis, acute herpetic gingivostomatitis 1 and paronychia. It has also been recovered from the spinal fluid 2 and brain substance 3 of patients with encephalitis. Since 1941 the virus of herpes simplex has been demonstrated in the cutaneous lesions of those infrequent and grave systemic infections known as Kaposi's varicelliform eruption. This uncommon syndrome which bears Kaposi's name was first clinically described by him in 1887 4 as a disease resembling chickenpox and occurring in children with allergic eczema. His description of the disease follows: The vesicles are as large as a lentil, filled with clear serum, and the majority are umbilicated. They look like varicella vesicles but