An outbreak of herpes simplex virus type 1 in an intensive care nursery

Neonatal herpes simplex infection is not a common occurrence but one which warrants particular concern. An 1800-g premature infant who developed respiratory distress and died at 12 days unexpectedly yielded HSV from a culture of cerebrospinal fluid. There were no mucocutaneous lesions. Ten days later three other infants (ages 40, 69 and 11 days) developed vesicles which yielded herpes simplex. Health care staff cohorts were assigned to "clean" …