Rapid Detection & Typing of Herpes Simplex Virus

Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infection can cause a wide spectrum of illnesses ranging fromasymptomatic to severe systemic illness and death. After primary infection, the virus enters a later statefrom which recurrent infections may arise. The primary infection is seldom fatal unless it occurs in aneonate. Recurrence is generally not fatal unless it occurs in an immunocompromised individual orwithin the central nervous system. Early detection of an active HSV infection using a rapid and sensitiveassay is essential in some situations to allow timely initiation of treatment as culture can take up to aweek in low titer infection. A new, fast, and reliable non-radioactive enzyme linked immunosorbent DNAassay has been developed and found to be highly sensitive for the human papillomavirus. This testsystem will be adapted for use in the detection and typing of HSV-1 and HSV-2. Phase I study will testthe feasibility of using this system to detect and type HSV. It will consist of isolating and preparing largespecific probes (totaling 30-40 kilobases) for HSV-1 and HSV-2 and testing these probes for analyticalsensitivity, specificity, and crossreactivity to other viruses, bacteria, and human DNA. A Phase II studywould optimize the assay and evaluate its performance on clinical specimens compared to cell cultureand polymerase chain reaction.