Acute Pharyngotonsillitis Caused by Herpesvirus Type 2

Abstract

HERPES simplex virus (HSV) type 1 is now recognized as a common nonbacterial cause of acute pharyngitis in young adults.1Herpes simplex virus type 2 is most often associated with urogenital infections of men or women and is generally transmitted venereally.4Acute exudative pharyngitis and tonsillitis developed in a bisexual man following oral-genital sex with male and female partners. Herpes simplex virus type 2 was recovered from the pharynx and identified in a biopsy specimen of tonsillar tissue. Report of a Case A 25-year-old bisexual man had fever, chills, odynophagia, and inability to swallow oral secretions for four days. He had received one dose of intramuscularly administered penicillin and had taken ampicillin orally for three days without relief. He had engaged in oral-genital sex with male and female partners ten days previously. He denied previous oral or genital herpes but had been treated for syphilis in the past.