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.
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.
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