HERPES SIMPLEX ENCEPHALITIS

Abstract
The etiologic relationship between the virus of herpes simplex and encephalitis has for many years been a controversial subject.1 At the time of the intense search for the causal agent of encephalitis lethargica during the worldwide epidemic of that disease, on several occasions the virus of herpes was isolated, either from the spinal fluid during life or from the brain after death. This led certain workers to believe that this virus was the cause of von Economo's disease. Others, however, were not satisfied with this theory and criticized the evidence on which it was based. In the first place the virus of herpes had been isolated from the spinal fluid of normal persons. Secondly, surprisingly few isolations of herpes were made despite the large number of cases investigated. Because of the known ubiquity of herpes simplex in man, it is likely that such isolated viruses were contaminants rather than