MedDRA preferred term · a cold sore

Oral herpes: adverse event reports recording this term

19,188 reports to FDA record it, 2005–2026; 0.1% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

19,188
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 1,227
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 1,506 in the 12 months before; 42.5%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 2.4%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

19,188 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Oral herpes" (in plain words, a cold sore): 0.1% of all reports received between August 2005 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

1,227 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, down 19% from 1,506 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 42.5% are marked serious, 2.4% include death among the outcomes and 16.9% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Dupixent, Abreva and Humira. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Dupixent	Interleukin-4 receptor alpha antagonist	3,278	0.7%
Abreva	Non-Standardized chemical allergen	2,379	17.4%
Humira	—	940	0.1%
Enbrel	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	863	0.2%
Ocrevus	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	820	1.6%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	762	0.4%
Actemra	Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist	422	0.5%
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	419	0.2%
Cosentyx	Interleukin-17A antagonist	414	0.3%
Xeljanz	Janus kinase inhibitor	368	0.2%
Rituximab	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	367	0.2%
Tysabri	Integrin receptor antagonist	286	0.2%
Remicade	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	254	0.2%
Rinvoq	Janus kinase inhibitor	243	0.3%
Cyclophosphamide	Alkylating drug	233	0.2%
Dexamethasone	Corticosteroid	228	0.2%
Methotrexate sodium	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	199	0.3%
Mycophenolate mofetil	Antimetabolite immunosuppressant	197	0.2%
Gilenya	Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulator	175	0.2%
Ibrance	Kinase inhibitor	172	0.2%
Cytarabine	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	161	0.3%
Etoposide	Topoisomerase inhibitor	161	0.3%
Prednisolone	Corticosteroid	160	0.2%
Orencia	Selective T cell costimulation modulator	156	0.1%
Inflectra	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	155	0.6%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0.1% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Interleukin-4 receptor alpha antagonist	3,413	0.7%	0.9%
Non-Standardized chemical allergen	2,379	15.1%	0%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	2,007	0.2%	0.2%
CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	1,549	0.5%	0.2%
Corticosteroid	1,216	0.2%	0%
Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	966	0.3%	0%
Janus kinase inhibitor	835	0.3%	0.3%
Kinase inhibitor	655	0.1%	0%
Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist	524	0.4%	0.2%
Interleukin-17A antagonist	463	0.2%	0.2%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20.2%29

2 to 111.7%324

12 to 171.5%291

18 to 4419.7%3,781

45 to 6429.2%5,606

65 to 7410.2%1,963

75 and over5.1%972

Age not given32.4%6,222

Patient sex

Female70.3%13,483

Male20.4%3,916

Not given9.3%1,789

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 68.4% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Oral herpes"

What does "Oral herpes" mean in an adverse event report?

In plain language: a cold sore. It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record oral herpes?

19,188 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 1,227 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Dupixent (3,278), Abreva (2,379), Humira (940), Enbrel (863) and Ocrevus (820). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.