This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
First global analysis of neonatal herpes reveals 14,000 cases occur annually
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Researchers conducting the first known global analysis of neonatal herpes estimated that approximately 14,000 cases occur each year. Although more data are needed, the researchers anticipate that their estimates will help raise awareness of the condition and stimulate efforts to develop future interventions such as vaccines and microbicides.
“Genital [herpes simplex virus (HSV)] infections among adolescents and adults are a global public health problem, estimated to affect over half a billion people worldwide,” Katharine J. Looker, PhD, of the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol, and colleagues wrote in Lancet Global Health. “Our study is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to quantify and thus better understand the global burden of neonatal herpes.”
Neonatal infections with HSV are rare but associated with “considerable” complications, according to the researchers. The case-fatality rate is approximately 60% without treatment. To estimate the global incidence of neonatal herpes, Looker and colleagues applied previous estimates of the incidence of HSV type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV type 2 (HSV-2) in women aged 15 to 49 years to birth rates from 2010 to 2015. The researchers then applied published risks of neonatal transmission based on whether maternal infection was incident or prevalent with type 1 or type 2 to determine annual estimates of incident neonatal infections. Separate estimates were generated for each WHO region, then combined to determine the global burden.
According to the data, the annual number of incident neonatal herpes cases was estimated to be 14,257 cases worldwide from 2010 to 2015. Approximately two-thirds of cases were caused by HSV-2. Across all WHO regions, the global rate of neonatal herpes was approximately 10.3 cases per 100,000 live births.
Most cases of neonatal herpes (approximately one-third) occurred in Africa, due to a high incidence and prevalence of HSV-2 infections among women and a high number of births. The Americas, however, had the highest overall infection rate, with 19.9 cases per 100,000 live births. This was due to high HSV-1 rates relative to other regions and a moderately high HSV-2 prevalence. In the Americas, Europe and the Western Pacific, most cases were caused by HSV-1.
The researchers warned that their estimates are “sensitive to the assumed risks of neonatal herpes.” When using the lowest values across all assumptions, the annual number of cases was 3,703. When the highest values were used, the annual number of cases was 36,415.
“Nonetheless, these estimates enable us to gain a first insight into the global picture of neonatal herpes, to compare burden of cases between regions, including the impact of HSV-1 versus HSV-2 and prevalent versus incident maternal infection, and to understand where further data collection is needed,” Looker and colleagues concluded.
In a related editorial, David W. Kimberlin, MD, of the department of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said that prospective studies are needed in countries around the world to determine the actual, rather than estimated, incidence of neonatal herpes.
“Additional global funding is required to achieve this important work, and Looker and colleagues’ data illustrate why such funding would be money well spent,” he wrote. – by Stephanie Viguers
Disclosures: Kimberlin and Looker report no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for a full list of the authors’ disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts