We found that, unlike infection with the less-virulent strains of HSV-1 (i.e., RE, F, KOS, and KOS63), corneal infection of B6 mice with the virulent strains (i.e., McKrae, 17, and KOS79) that produced severe corneal inflammatory herpetic disease, was associated with high and early expression of NLRP3, NLRP12, and IFI16 inflammasomes. The gene discussed is IFI16; the disease is infection.