Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections are among the most commoninfectious agents of humans. The natural history of HSV infection is influenced by two features of the virus (1). There are two distinct serotypes: HSV-1, which is transmitted chiefly via a non-genital route, and HSV-2, which is most often transmitted sexually or from a mother’s genital infection to the newborn; and during initial (primary) infection(2).The mode of spread of each of the two virus types is reflected by its relative prevalence at different ages and by its pattern of clinical distribution within the host. Periodically, the latent virus can be reactivated to cause symptomatic or subclinical recurrent infections. Hence, HSV infections may range from subclinical to life threatening, and the specific clinical illness will be determined by the portal of virus entry, the competence of the host immune system, and whether the infection is primary or recurrent(2,4,8). Unless resulting from autoinoculation or sexual spread from the mouth to genital sites, HSV-1 infections occur most frequently during childhood and affect most often the mouth, lips, and skin sites above the waist.
An increase in infectious diseases over the past decades has attracted worldwide attention. So that many efforts and costs is spent by the government to control these diseases.
In Iran, the prevalence of HSV1 was 42.04% and HSV2 6.5% as mentioned in a meta-analysis study(4).
Mucosal covering of the mouth, nose, ears, pharynx, anus, genitals, cervix and urinary tract are areas prone to herpes virus. HSV1 usually causes ulcers in the lips and mouth areas which are usually recurrent and painful.
The average recurrence of herpes simplex infection is 2 to 3 times each year, but it is observed up to 12 times in a year. Factors such as topical skin trauma, exposure to ultraviolet radiation, hormonal and systemic changes in the body, fever, surgery, stress and immune deficiencyare effective. Recurrent herpes labialisvirus caused to painful mucosal lesions; asit is estimated that 30% of the population affects with this problem (5).
Cross-infections are very likely to be transmitted during dental procedures due to direct and frequent contact with blood, saliva and other body fluids, and indirect contact with contaminated surfaces, as well as airborne particles.
In the recent years, despite the diseases such as hepatitis AIDS, HSV infections, it has been focused much attention on the problem of infection transmission and the antibody level of dentists and dental students due to risk of infection transmission (7).
Also, prevalence of infections in the dental profession is high,because these people are more exposed to blood, saliva and risk of sharps (8).
There are only a few reports of HSV cross-infection inthe dental practice. The frequency of herpetic whitlowwas observed to be higher among practicing dentistscompared to the normal population (9). However, reportsconfirming the transmission of infection from the patientto the dental team infection are available in the literature(8). Also the cross-infection of HSV from dental team topatients has been shown. A dental hygienist with aherpetic whitlow, who did not use gloves routinely,infected 20 out of 46 patients (10).
A large portion of the adult population is infected withHSV-1 and reactivations resulting in subclinical orsymptomatic infection are frequent. However, fewresearchesare published on the cross-transmission andinfection of HSV-1 through the dental practice.
Adherence to safety principles is essential during dental treatment for health of the dentist, patient and clinic staff and their families. Since dental students are in close contact with patients during their education and are exposed to cross-infection, so, if the infection control principles are not adhered, the probability of transmission of HSV1 virus to themincrease through the saliva and mucus secretions of patients.
Therefore, the aim of present study was to investigate the rate of HSV1 antibody titer indental studentsof Birjand University of Medical Sciences in 2018–2019.