ABSTRACT
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) causes fever blisters or cold sores around the lips or in the genital area. Precise description of all herpetic lesions is out of the scope of this chapter, which is devoted solely to CNS involvement. In addition to acute or subacute herpetic encephalitis with confirmed HSV etiology, the people shall consider the putative role of HSV-1 latency within brain tissue as related to schizophrenia, polar psychotic disorders, and Alzheimer's disease. At the time of the introduction of the PCR technique for detection of HSV DNA in CSF, different laboratories amplified different HSV genes. The attempts to compare the efficiency of HSV antigen presence by ELISA with the sensitivity of the genome detection clearly showed the superiority of the PCR technique. Detection of HSV DNA in CSF by molecular methods has become the gold standard of diagnosis of HSVE, avoiding, in particular, invasive brain biopsy.
