The present invention relates to diagnosis, prevention and treatment of Herpes simplex viruses and infection. In particular embodiments the present invention relates to methods and compositions for the prophylactic or therapeutic immunization against of infections of HSV. The present invention also relates to methods and compositions for diagnosis of the presence of and level of immunity to HSV. The invention also relates to peptide epitopes of HSV, in particular peptide epitopes of HSV2 glycoprotein D, to compositions thereof and to the use of such epitopes and compositions in methods for diagnosis, prevention and treatment of HSV.