Bulk and scRNASeq profiling of HSV-specific memory CD8+ T cells from blood and TG, the site of latent infection, demonstrate that high-resolution map of antiviral T cells in symptomatic and asymptomatic herpes serve as a new baseline for defining the coding genes and the immunological pathways that are differentially expressed in CD8+ TRM cells during HSV-1 symptomatic vs. asymptomatic infections. Here, CD8A is linked to disease arising from reactivation of latent virus.