[Orofacial alpha herpesvirus infection].

The mouth is the most common site of primary and recurrent herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. The clinical appearance of recurrent intraoral HSV infection is similar to that of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Reactivation of HSV occurs in bone marrow transplantation and is more frequent in patients conditioned with total body irradiation than in patients conditioned without total body irradiation. Although the effect of oral acyclovir to prevent recurrent herpes labialis is not confirmed, recurrent HSV lesions can be treated with the ointment formulation successfully. A therapeutic approach using replication-competent HSV may be useful in the treatment of tumors of epithelial origin, such as carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract.