SUMMARY A total of 422 sera collected from children and young adults living in Ibadan, Nigeria, has been examined for the presence of antibodies to type 1 and type 2 herpesvirus hominis. Type 1 antibodies were rapidly acquired from the age of 1 year onwards, reflecting the relatively poor living standards and the overcrowded accommodation among the population studied. Type 2 antibodies were acquired between the ages of 3 and 5 years. It is suggested that non-venereal spread of the virus must be responsible; prolonged survival of the virus on fomites, owing to the high environmental humidity, possibly accounts for this.

SUMMARY Examination of sera from blood donors, from patients attending a special treatment clinic, a family planning clinic, and an antenatal clinic showed that the prevalence of herpesvirus hominis type 2 antibodies among the adult population in Ibadan is similar to that in other parts of the world.The possibility of non-venereal transmission of herpesvirus infection was confirmed by the finding that herpesvirus hominis type 2 could survive on cloth samples under humid tropical conditions for long enough to allow transmission of infection via fomites.