BACKGROUND: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is divided in two serotypes (HSV-1 and HSV-2) responsible for labial end genital herpes, respectively. Although the infection caused by HSV has a rapid course, this agent is frequently related to complications in immunocompromised patient’s treatment, like transplanted individuals as an opportunistic agent. OBJECTIVES: To compare and evaluate three current diagnosis techniques for HSV diagnosis in transplanted and non-transplanted patients. Material and methods: 84 consecutive clinical samples from 47 transplanted and 37 non-transplanted individuals were collected from June 2001 to July 2002, being simultaneously submitted to nested multiplex PCR (nmPCR), multiplex PCR (mPCR) and viral isolation (VI) in Vero cells. RESULTS: 33.3%(28/84) samples were HSV-positive by VI, 35.4%(29/84) by mPCR and 42.8%(36/84) by nmPCR. 85.7% (24/28) samples were characterized as HSV-1 by the direct immunofluorescence technique (dIF), 86.2%(25/29) by mPCR and 88.9%(32/36) by nmPCR. 4.8%(4/84) samples were characterized as HSV-2 by the three techniques. There was no significant difference regarding HSV diagnosis among the techniques (p = 0.38), although nmPCR detected more samples from transplanted patients (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: although the three techniques presented similar performances, the nmPCR revealed to be an useful tool for transplanted patients or those under antiviral treatment, where a low viral load in their samples is expected.
Herpes simplex virus; PCR; Cell culture; Transplant
