Association of Herpes Simplex Virusis (Type 1 and 2) and Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections

Abstract

Introduction. Herpes simplex virus infections (HSV; Herpes simplex 1 and 2) are one of the most common sexually transmitted viral infections (STIs). Epidemiological and etiological factors of human HSV-infections are insufficiently studied, in particular, due to the optional registration in Ukraine. The objective was to evaluate the prevalence and etiological aspects of HSV-infection (Herpes simplex 1 and 2) association with some bacterial STIs (Treponema pallidum, Chlamydia trachomatis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Trichomonas vaginalis), taking into account shifts in the microbiocenosis of the lower genital tract, as well as the psycho-emotional state of patients. Materials and methods. Markers of HSV-1 and HSV-2 were detected of specific antiherpetic antibodies (IgM and IgG) in the serum (plasma) (reagent sets VectoVPG – IgM, VectoVPG-1-IgG, VectoVPG-2-IgG) in 90 patients (43 men (mean age – 41.2 years) and 47 women (mean age – 34.7 years) with STIs (T. pallidum, Ch. trachomatis, U. urealyticum, T. vaginalis) and opportunistic microflora. Assessment of psychoemotional state patients was performed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and statistical processing was performed using the STATISTICA 9.0 package (StatSoft). Results. The incidence of STIs caused by HSV-1/2 among the population of Ukraine is gradually increasing and according to extrapolated data (lack of official registration) the true intensive rate per 1 year is 100–120 newly diagnosed cases per 100,000 populations. There are gender features (the prevalence of markers of HSV-1 among patients with urogenital pathology is 91.5% in women and 97.7% in men, HSV 2 – in 28.8% and 18.6%, respectively) with maximum infection is in reproductive age. The associations with STIs are following: Ch. trachomatis (up to 29%), U. urealyticum (up to 22%), T. vaginalis (up to 9%), T. pallidum (up to 6%) and opportunistic microflora (up to 26%). When assessing the psycho-emotional state of patients with HSV, the clinical severity of anxiety and depression was correlated with the duration of the disease, the frequency of episodes of exacerbation and the presence of a rash on the genitals. Conclusions. The modern management or sexually transmitted HSV should take into account gender and age, etiological aspects, be coercive with the modern data of microbiology, namely bacterial and viral associations of STIs, as well as with psycho-emotional state of patients.