Background: Herpes simplex virus infections are very common worldwide. The virus can cause infection in various body parts, especially eyes and the nervous system. Therefore, an early diagnosis and highly sensitive method is very helpful.
Objectives: The present study sought to investigate the efficiency of Real-time TaqMan probe PCR in the diagnosis of HSV infection in suspected patients.
Patients and methods: In this study, 1566 patients with suspected HSV infections were enrolled. They aged 17 days to 96 years. The collected specimens were classified into four groups; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from HSE suspected individuals, samples from eye epithelial scraping, tear fluid or aqueous humor from herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) suspected patients, plasma of immune compromised patients and mucocutaneous collected samples from different body parts. The samples were analyzed by Real-time PCR assays.
Results: In total, 44 (5.6%), 118 (26.8%), 23 (11.7%), 13 (44.8%) and 65 (45.5%) of 791 HSE, 407 HSK, 29 skin HSV, 143 oropharyngeal suspected patients and 196 patients with systemic HSV infection HSV had positive results by Real-time PCR assays, respectively.
Conclusions: Real-time PCR assay, due to its high sensitivity and specificity, can help in early diagnosis and more effective treatment for patients. Also, it requires shorter hospital stay and promotes patients' survival.
Keywords: Encephalitis; Herpes Simplex Virus; Keratitis; Real-Time PCR.