ABSTRACT
A revolution has taken place in laboratory techniques for herpes simplex virus (HSV) diagnosis in recent years (1-3), and it is now possible to produce accurate results within a day, sometimes within hours (4,5). This development is not only driven by the increase in the number of immunosuppressed patients, in whom HSV infections are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality (6-10), but also by the introduction of safe antiviral drugs for the treatment of both acute and chronic HSV infections (11-14). These factors have contributed to a change in the clinician’s expectations of diagnostic virology and have created a welcome opportunity for the medical virologist to develop rapid, accurate, and relevant test modalities. Examples of these are nucleic acid (NA) amplification techniques, including HSV DNA quantitative assays (11,15-17), and the introduction of sophisticated laboratory services such as antiviral susceptibility testing (18,19). These improved laboratory services are rapidly redefining the natural history and epidemiological picture of HSV infection (20-24). As clinicians become increasingly reliant on these techniques, the clinical need for robust molecular techniques, such as fully automated real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays (25) will become evident.
