APA Dictionary of Psychology

a disease produced by a herpes virus. A herpes infection may be manifested as chicken pox, cold sores, shingles, ulceration of the cornea, encephalitis, stomatitis, or vulvovaginitis (genital herpes). The major strains are herpes varicella-zoster, which causes both chicken pox and shingles; herpes simplex Type 1, the cause of cold sores and sometimes genital herpes; and herpes simplex Type 2, the most frequent cause of genital herpes. See also perinatal herpes-virus infection.