The genital herpes infection is mostly caused by HSV-2. The analysis of epidemic data supports the common impression that herpes genitalis markedly increased. The HSV-2 is with few exceptions a sexually transmitted virus, the infectionsity is about 80%. The primary infection with HSV-2 occurs in the youth. HSV-2 survives in a latent stage in the human body for life and causes as a rule to recurrent diseases. The clinical picture is variable. The most severe complication is the sepsis of newborn. The virological diagnosis is made by isolation of virus. The therapy of herpes genitalis is problematic. It is proposed that the HSV-2 plays a key role as an initiating factor in the development of human genital cancer.