[Herpes simplex virus infection in the first weeks of life].
Most neonatal Herpes-simplex-virus infections are the result of virus acquisition during passage through the birth canal. Transplacental transmission of HSV is seldom. The infection is mostly localized at the skin, eyes and central nervous system. The disseminated HSV-infection represents as the most severe clinical picture. It is reported about meningoencephalitis caused by HSV in 3 infants in the first weeks of life. The therapeutic success of antiviral chemotherapeutics depends very much on their application at an early stage of the disease, which can be recognized by cerebral sonography and detection of IgM-antibodies against HSV.