Medicine: The Ordeal of the Herpes Kids

Across the U.S., they are victims of school boycotts

"Look out! Here comes the herpes kid."

"I don't want to touch him."

These jeers greeted Johnny Bigley, 3, when he arrived at school last week in Pasadena, Md., escorted by his father. Johnny is too young to understand why he is being spurned by the older children, why all five of his classmates have boycotted the special speech-therapy course he attends, and why their parents sought a court order to bar him from the classroom.

Johnny is a victim not only of the disease but of the fears that it arouses, especially among the parents of school-age children. His case...

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