This is an interesting question, not because herpes has been found to cause PD but because in vector-based gene therapy delivery systems, herpes simplex has been considered as a method to introduce genes into cells for PD treatment.

Please understand that these are inactivated viruses and won’t cause the disease but herpes was one virus considered because of its preference for colonizing nerve cells.

Most of the interest dates from the last decade of the previous century. because of the herpes involvement of the trigeminal nerve because there are viral pathways which affect the substantia nigra and have an affinity for monoamines (dopamine is a monoamine)

In the 80s there was a study – link below – but not statistically significant between herpes zoster and PD.content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Doi=110514

But that’s about it. so the answer appears to be no – herpes does not seem to be a causative factor in Parkinson’s disease.

From a NINDS article on PD, here is a section about the relation of viruses as a causative factor to parkinsonian conditions:“Viruses are another possible environmental trigger for PD. People who developed encephalopathy after a 1918 influenza epidemic were later stricken with severe, progressive Parkinson’s-like symptoms. A group of Taiwanese women developed similar symptoms after contracting herpes virus infections. in these women, the symptoms, which later disappeared, were linked to a temporary inflammation of the substantia nigra”

What was important about the above was the inflamatory process.