TY - JOUR T1 - Herpetic eye attacks: variability of circannual rhythms. JF - British Journal of Ophthalmology JO - Br J Ophthalmol SP - 50 LP - 53 DO - 10.1136/bjo.79.1.50 VL - 79 IS - 1 AU - D Gamus AU - A Romano AU - E Sucher AU - I E Ashkenazi Y1 - 1995/01/01 UR - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/79/1/50.abstract N2 - BACKGROUND--The issue of seasonal variation of herpetic ocular infections is still controversial. This study was designed to examine whether this variation exists and can be defined as a significant circannual rhythm. METHODS--The patterns of recurrent attacks were monitored in 541 patients over a period of 15 years. Rhythm parameters were analysed according to age, sex, and clinical signs. RESULTS--The majority of herpetic eye attacks exhibited the highest peak in January (p < 0.04), except in the group of atopic children where the incidence of the disease peaked in September (p < 0.05). Among the various clinical forms, significant circannual periodicities were found only in the occurrence of epithelial herpetic keratitis (p < 0.03). The rhythms were detected among males (p < 0.03) but not among females. No direct correlation was demonstrated between the presence of the rhythms and the triggering effect of upper respiratory tract infections. CONCLUSIONS--Chronoepidemiological evaluation of individual reactivation patterns may be beneficial to certain patients and contribute to the optimisation of the treatment when prophylaxis is considered. ER -