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World J Stomatol. May 20, 2016; 5(2): 22-27
Published online May 20, 2016. doi: 10.5321/wjs.v5.i2.22
Impact of different types of herpesviral infections in the oral cavity
Ronaldo Luis Thomasini, Fabiana Souza Máximo Pereira
Ronaldo Luis Thomasini, Fabiana Souza Máximo Pereira, Faculty of Medicine, Campus JK, Federal University of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys, Minas Gerais, Diamantina 39100-000, Brazil
Fabiana Souza Máximo Pereira, Santa Casa de Caridade de Diamantina (Hospital of the Diamantina Town), Minas Gerais, Diamantina 39100-000, Brazil
Author contributions: Thomasini RL and Pereira FSM contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ronaldo Luis Thomasini, Bsc, Msc, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Campus JK, Federal University of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys, MGT-367 Road, Alto da Jacuba, Minas Gerais, Diamantina 39100-000, Brazil. ronaldothomasini@gmail.com
Telephone: +55-31-99550208
Received: August 29, 2015
Peer-review started: September 5, 2015
First decision: October 27, 2015
Revised: March 11, 2016
Accepted: March 22, 2016
Article in press: March 23, 2016
Published online: May 20, 2016
Processing time: 262 Days and 8.9 Hours
Abstract

The herpesviruses are ubiquitous, doubled-stranded DNA viruses that can reactivate under conditions such as immunosuppressive therapy, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, malnutrition, and immunosenescence. There are eight types of herpesviruses: Human herpesvirus simplex (HSV) type I (HSV-1) and HSV type II (HSV-2), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus, human herpesvirus (HHV)-6, HHV-7, and HHV-8 or Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus. Some of these viruses can infect the oral cavity, leading to different types of lesions. Specifically, labial herpes (HSV-1 and less frequently HSV-2), zoster (VZV), infectious mononucleosis and oral hairy leukoplakia (EBV), and Kaposi’s Sarcoma (HHV-8) are the most common viruses infecting the oral cavity. Some of these viruses can act in synergy with other herpesviruses or as distinct infectious agents. Other herpesviruses may have indirect effects in periodontal disease. The diagnosis is frequently based on signs and symptoms and depends on the experience of the examiner. Cytopathologic and/or histopathologic examination as well as immunological methods such as ELISA could help to elucidate cases. In addition, molecular techniques which can be sensitive and specific have been reported in the literature. These methods require low amounts of sample and could offer results faster than other traditional methods.

Keywords: Herpesvirus; Oral cavity; Symptoms; Infection; Virus

Core tip: The oral lesions caused by herpesviruses can be painful and not always easily diagnosed and treated. This review article intends to briefly describe the viral features, physiopathology, epidemiology, signs, symptoms, laboratory diagnosis and its limitation, and typical therapy and prevention (if it exists) of these oral lesions. The main aim of this present article is to help the clinical practice considering diagnosis of the oral herpesviral infections. In addition, there is a lack of an updated article concerning basic and clinical information about herpesvirus infections.