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Herpes and habitual non-pregnancy
Last reviewed: 08.07.2025
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Genital herpes is one of the most common human infections. Most researchers believe that the true frequency of herpes simplex virus in women is unknown, since the proportion of asymptomatic forms and virus carriage is high. A feature of this infection is that antibodies do not prevent reactivation, as with cytomegalovirus infection.
Among patients with habitual miscarriage, 55% are asymptomatic carriers of the herpes simplex virus, 10% have periodic episodes of reactivation (characteristic rashes, itching). In patients with habitual miscarriage, when carrying the virus, the herpes simplex virus as a monoculture is rarely encountered. Most often - in association with cytomegalovirus infection and bacteria in both the cervical canal and the endometrium.
Genital herpes in 66% of women, among those who have frequent reactivation, is characterized by an atypical form of the disease. Clinical diagnostic criteria are: persistent discharge from the genital tract that does not respond to conventional therapy; a feeling of debilitating itching; burning; swelling; discomfort in the vagina (the so-called vulvodynia); recurrent diseases of the cervix - ectopia; leukoplakia; pelvic ganglioneuritis; condylomas.
Persistent vulvovaginitis is caused by a combination of herpes simplex virus and chlamydia in 61%. Chronic endometritis, including that caused by herpes simplex virus, has the following clinical manifestations: perimenstrual uterine bleeding, vulvodynia, menorrhagia, leucorrhoea, lower abdominal pain, habitual miscarriage or infertility. It turned out that, as with cytomegalovirus infection, there are disorders of general immunity, which are manifested in a decrease in the total population of T-lymphocytes, a decrease in the number of T-helpers and T-suppressors, an increase in the content of natural killers - signs of moderate secondary immunodeficiency. Moreover, it turned out that in the atypical form, these changes are more pronounced than in the typical form of the disease. However, it is practically impossible to predict the features of the course of genital herpes based on the assessment of the immune status of the peripheral blood. When assessing local immunity, when examining the endometrium in the first phase of the menstrual cycle, a number of interesting data were obtained on a significant increase in cytotoxic cells, immunoglobulins in the endometrial secretion, which can be markers of the severity of chronic endometritis with persistent viral infection.
Primary herpes simplex virus poses a great danger to pregnancy, and it has been noted that primary herpes simplex virus in pregnant women is often more severe than in non-pregnant women.
Very often the cervix is involved in the process with the formation of "erosion" of the cervix. If the primary infection is observed in the first half of pregnancy, a high frequency of miscarriages is noted, and at a later stage - premature birth.
When a child is infected with the herpes simplex virus, a congenital syndrome is possible, which manifests itself as microcephaly, intracranial calcifications, chorioretinitis. Most often, the child is infected during childbirth when there are rashes in the mother's genital tract. The presence of antibodies in the mother does not prevent the disease, but improves its outcome, as with cytomegalovirus infection.
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