Herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) is shed episodically, leading to occasional genital ulcers and efficient transmission. The biology explaining highly variable shedding patterns, in an infected person over time, is poorly understood. We sampled the genital tract for HSV DNA at several time intervals and concurrently at multiple sites, and derived a spatial mathematical model to characterize dynamics of HSV-2 reactivation. The model reproduced heterogeneity in shedding episode duration and viral production, and predicted rapid early viral expansion, rapid late decay, and wide spatial dispersion of HSV replication during episodes. In simulations, HSV-2 spread locally within single ulcers to thousands of epithelial cells in <12 hr, but host immune responses eliminated infected cells in <24 hr; secondary ulcers formed following spatial propagation of cell-free HSV-2, allowing for episode prolongation. We conclude that HSV-2 infection is characterized by extremely rapid virological growth and containment at multiple contemporaneous sites within genital epithelium.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00288.001

Background Recent studies indicate that short subclinical episodes of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) are the predominant form of skin and mucosal viral shedding. We evaluated whether standard or high-dose antiviral therapy reduced the frequency of such shedding. Methods To determine whether short episodes of genital HSV shedding are suppressed on standard dose (SD) and high-dose (HD) antiviral therapy, HSV-2 seropositive, HIV seronegative persons in Seattle, WA were enrolled into three separate but complementary randomized, open-label, cross-over studies comparing 1) no medication to aciclovir 400 mg twice daily (SD-ACV), 2) valaciclovir 500 mg daily (SD-VAL) to aciclovir 800 mg three times daily (TID) (HD-ACV), and 3) SD-VAL to HD-VAL (1 gm TID). Study arms lasted 4–7 weeks, separated by one week wash-out. Participants obtained genital swabs four times daily for quantitative HSV DNA PCR. The primary endpoint was within-person comparison of shedding rate on each study arm. Results Of 113 participants randomized, 90 were eligible for analysis of the primary endpoint. Participants collected 23,605 swabs; of these 1272 (5·4%) had HSV detected. HSV shedding was significantly higher during the no medication arm (18·1% of swabs) compared with SD-ACV (1.2% of swabs, IRR=0·05, 95% CI=0·03–0·08). Breakthrough reactivations occurred on all doses (SD-ACV 1·2%, SD-VAL 5·2%, HD-ACV 4·2%, and HD-VAL 3·3% of swabs). HD-VAL was associated with less shedding compared with SD-VAL (IRR=0·54, 95% CI=0·44–0·66), likely due to more rapid clearance of mucosal HSV (4·7 logs/6 hours on HD-VAL vs. 4·4 logs/6 hours on SD-VAL, (p=0·02)). However, the annualized breakthrough episodes was similar on SD-VAL (22·6) and HD-ACV (20·2, p=0·54) and SD-VAL (14.9) and HD-VAL (16·5, p=0·34). Regardless of dose, breakthrough episodes were short (median 7–10 hours) and 80% were subclinical. Studies were not designed to make inter-trial comparisons between antiviral doses. Except for increased incidence of headaches on HD-VAL, all regimens were well-tolerated. Conclusions Short bursts of subclinical genital HSV reactivation are frequent, even during high-dose antiherpes therapy, and likely account for continued transmission of HSV-2 during suppressive antiviral therapy. More potent antiviral therapy is needed to abolish HSV-2 transmission

Oral HSV-2 reactivation was common (especially among HIV-positive men), was always asymptomatic, and often occurred on days of genital HSV-2 reactivation.

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