Does herpes virus cause fever?

After contracting viral herpes, certain inflammatory symptoms often appear, which can cause the patient to have a fever. In addition, if it is shingles, it will also cause pain. This pain is relatively obvious, and radiating pain will appear along the nerves. Sometimes it will also cause keratitis, panophthalmitis, etc., which can easily cause swollen lymph nodes and symptoms of varying degrees, which is also quite harmful to patients.

Viral herpes symptoms

Herpes simplex is clinically divided into two types: primary and recurrent types. The primary type manifests as herpetic gingivostomatitis, herpetic vaginitis, inoculation herpes simplex, herpetic eczema, disseminated herpes simplex, neonatal herpes, etc. The recurrent type includes oral herpes (facial herpes), genital herpes, herpes virus type 2 infection, recurrent herpetic keratoconjunctivitis, etc.

The onset of herpes zoster is sudden or painful at first. The lesions are clustered mung bean-sized blisters on the inflammatory erythema, with occasional papules, bullae or blood blisters. The skin between each cluster is normal. The rash is often distributed in a band-like manner along the peripheral nerves. It is more common on one side, especially in the intercostal nerve and trigeminal nerve areas. Its intersection is the brachial plexus of the upper limbs and the sciatic nerve area of ​​the lower limbs. It can occasionally affect the eyes, causing keratitis, iritis, panophthalmitis, etc. The course of the disease is 2 to 3 months or longer. Local lymph nodes are often swollen and tender. In severe cases, fever may occur, and there may be varying degrees of pain.

When newborns whose immune function has not yet matured and people with immune deficiencies (such as those who have undergone organ transplantation, are receiving immunosuppressants or anti-tumor treatment) are infected with viral herpes, the lesions often spread throughout the body, such as the brain, liver, lungs, eyes, adrenal glands, and skin mucosa. The condition is severe and the mortality rate is high.

Causes of viral herpes

Herpes simplex is caused by the herpes simplex virus (divided into type I and type II). The human body is its only natural host. When the body's resistance is reduced, the disease is promoted to occur. Pathologically, it manifests as intraepidermal blisters, epidermal necrosis, multinucleated epithelial giant cells, eosinophilic intranuclear inclusions, and significant neutrophil and lymphocyte inflammatory infiltration.

Shingles is caused by the activation of the latent varicella-zoster virus in the body. After the virus first infects the patient, it remains dormant in the body's nerve cells for a long time and is induced when the immune function is low. Its tissue pathology is similar to the former, but the latter is more severe than the former in terms of inflammation.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is caused by a DNA virus. Human herpes viruses are divided into two types, namely herpes simplex virus type Ⅰ (HSV-Ⅰ) and herpes simplex virus type Ⅱ (HSV-Ⅱ). Type I primarily causes infection of the skin, mucous membranes (oral mucosa), and organs (brain) other than the genitals. Type II primarily causes skin and mucous membrane infections in the genital area. These two types can be identified by fluorescent immunoassay and cell culture.

Humans are the only natural host of herpes viruses. The virus enters the body through the respiratory tract, oral cavity, genital mucosa and broken skin, and resides in human respiratory mucosa, blood, saliva and sensory ganglion cells. Primary infection is mostly latent, mostly asymptomatic or subclinical, and only some individuals may show clinical symptoms. After primary infection occurs, the virus can remain hidden in the body for a long time. More than 50% of healthy people are carriers of this virus. HSV does not produce long-term immunity in the human body. Whenever the body's immune function declines, such as fever, gastrointestinal dysfunction, menstruation, pregnancy, focal infection and changes in motivation, the HSV hidden in the body is activated and the disease occurs.

Studies have shown that patients with recurrent viral herpes may have cellular immune deficiency. It is generally believed that HSV-Ⅱ is related to the occurrence of cervical cancer.