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Glite Dictionary
🦠 A virus 🤒 A skin disease
herpes simplex

herpes simplex

1 3.5
A virus that causes cold sores and other skin or nerve infections
  • noun
  • /ˈhɜrpiːz ˈsɪmplɛks/
  • Specialized
translation icon : herpes simplex
  • The herpes simplex virus can cause painful cold sores around the lips.
  • herpes simplex virus
  • herpes simplex virus (HSV)
  • recurrent herpes simplex

And Herp Alert is the first telehealth application that offers diagnosis and treatment for the herpes simplex virus.

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Examples

  • About 150 million Americans have latent herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 infection, accounting for 100 million episodes of recurrent herpes labialis each year.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Virend is a topical treatment for the herpes simplex virus.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Herpes simplex virus causes both primary and recurrent oral disease.

    Academic text (2000)

  • And Herp Alert is the first telehealth application that offers diagnosis and treatment for the herpes simplex virus.

    Theo Von

  • In people with HIV infection, recurrent herpes simplex may occur frequently, in painful outbreaks that can last several weeks.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Recurrent herpes simplex affects the lips or the intraoral mucosa.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Ultraviolet (UV) B light is known to be a stimulus for the reactivation of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Many people are unaware that they are carriers of the herpes simplex virus.

  • Treatment options for herpes simplex infections are available through health care providers.

Synonyms

herpes simplex virus
vsherpes simplex
  • Specialized
1 3.8

A germ that causes cold sores and genital herpes

is the shorter form that omits the explicit word virus

Surface Forms

herpes simplex singular
herpes simples plural

Morphology

herpes + simplex

The term is compositional in that 'herpes' signals the class of viral infection and 'simplex' marks a specific subtype, so a learner who knows 'herpes' will likely infer this is a particular kind of herpes. However, 'simplex' is a technical/Latin label whose contribution to the clinical meaning (symptoms, oral vs. genital, viral cause) is not transparent to a B1 learner, making the overall expression only partially predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Herpes simplex gets its name from the word herpes, from an old Greek word meaning 'to creep', because the small blisters often seem to move or spread along the skin. The word simplex means 'simple' or 'single', used to show it is the common form, so the name now refers to the virus that causes cold sores and similar infections.