Epidemiology of genital herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2 infections in southwestern Finland during a 10-year period (2003-2012).

Background The objective of this study was to analyze the proportion of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) in genital infections during a 10-year period (2003–2012) among outpatients of a clinic of sexually transmitted disease in Southwestern Finland. Methods We analyzed prospectively the proportion of HSV-1– or HSV-2–positive culture samples from our sexually transmitted disease clinic outpatients with genital herpes infection during the years 2003 to 2012 and compared the proportions of positive HSV-1 and HSV-2 findings with the age and sex of the patients. Results Herpes simplex virus type 2 was typed in 66.4% (557/839) and HSV-1 in 33.6% (282/839) of the patients during the entire study period. The mean age of male patients (26.3 years) with a laboratory-confirmed HSV-1 infection was significantly lower than that in male patients with an HSV-2 infection in 2003 to 2007 (26.3 vs. 32.9 years), with P Conclusions Herpes simplex virus type 2 was still the most common causative agent of genital herpes in Southwestern Finland, but the proportion of HSV-1 was increasingly high. The age difference between male patients with HSV-1 and HSV-2 narrowed during the years studied.