Influence of Specific Antibody on Herpes Simplex Infections in Tissue Culture

Persons who suffer from recurrent herpes simplex infections have neutralizing or complement-fixing antibodies to herpes simplex virus in their sera, usually in high titer.4,6-9,11-16,18-20 The antibody level in the sera of these patients, according to available evidence,6,9,11-16,19 does not fluctuate in response to the recurrent infection. (The anibody level is as high before the recurrence as it is during or after.) These observations suggest that a high level of specific antibody in the serum is incapable of eradicating the herpes virus even though it may limit its spread.The influence of specific antibody upon the course of experimental herpes infections in tissue cultures has been studied by two groups of investigators. Andrewes3 showed that herpes simplex infections could develop in tissue cultures in the presence of specific antibody providing the virus was added one-half hour before the addition of the antibody. Black and