It is a chronic disease marked with remissions and recurrent attacks of increasing severity that sooner or later end in death. There are two main types of Herpes. It is associated with stress. Psychosomatic stress, injury, fever particularly malaria, pneumonia, meningitis, general weakness all predispose the body to succumb to the Herpes virus. It is caused by the Herpes Simplex virus.
Erythematous macules appear on which clusters of pinhead sized superficial vesicles develop.
They may rupture or become crusted or dry up and leave faint reddish stains. The course of herpes simplex is about 7 - 14 days. The site of the infection is the posterior root ganglion. The skin is the secondary site of infection. The lowered resistance of the body and skin due to injury, illness, drugs, pyschosomatic stress etc. predispose the body to an attack by the Vericella-zoster virus.