Herpesviruses. Part 1
Authors:   Kharkiv National Medical University. 4, Nauky Avenue, Kharkiv 61022, Ukraine, Nazaryan R. S. , Fomenko Yu. V. , Scheblykina N. A. , Kolesova T. A. , Golik N. V. , Sukhostavets E. V. 
Published: December 2020

One of the urgent problems of modern medicine is the high incidence of herpesvirus infections. The high prevalence of herpesviruses in the human population of the world allow us to consider herpes a common systemic disease of the whole organism. Doctors of any specialty are faced with the clinical manifestations of herpes infection in patients, and they themselves are a risk group of chronic herpes infections formation due to constant patient contacts and frequent professional psycho-emotional overload. Herpes infections are a group of infectious diseases caused by human herpesviruses. Now it is known 8 species of herpesvirus causing various human diseases that occur in the acute (during the initial contact with the infection) or chronic form. The herpesvirus family has a number of common properties that distinguish them from other human pathogenic viruses. There are three subfamilies in the Herpesviridae family. Alpha herpesviruses (Аlphaherpesvirinae) include the two serotypes of the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2), and the varicella-zoster virus (herpes zoster). Beta herpesviruses (Betaherpesvirinae) include cytomegalovirus, human herpes viruses of types 6 and 7 (HHV-5, HHV-6, HHV-7). Gamma herpes viruses (Gammaherpesvirinae) include the Epstein-Barr virus, human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-4, HHV-8). Clinical manifestations of herpes infection depend more on the immunity state of the infected organism than on the pathogenic properties of the pathogen itself, and develop only in conditions of immunodeficiency caused by various unfavorable factors. Herpesviruses are able to damage organs, weaken the body's immunity, creating conditions for the attachment of the other infections (fungal, bacterial), which in turn can cause organ damage. The herpesvirus ability to infect all organs and tissues of the body determines a significant clinical polymorphism of diseases, as well as the necessity to study various biological liquids. Herpesviruses can be transmitted from person to person by aerosol, contact, sexual and parenteral transmission, as well as from mother to fetus or newborn, they also can act as mutagens. The pathogenesis of herpesvirus infections is rather complex and not completely understood. For a proper understanding of the disease pathogenesis it is necessary to know the main stages of reproduction of human herpesviruses. Modern laboratory techniques are used for diagnosis of herpes infection and allow obtaining more complete information for an accurate diagnosis: virological method, electron microscopy method, the method of biological sample, the polymerase chain reaction methods for the detection of viral antigens, serological, immunological, cytological and histological methods. Conclusion. The high prevalence of diseases caused by herpes viruses, the complex, not fully understood pathogenesis and high contagiousness of diseases, as well as a variety of clinical manifestations of herpesvirus infections with the possibility of the formation of mixed forms with a blurred clinical picture dictate the need for a detailed study of herpes viruses and knowledge of methods for diagnosing herpes infections