Herpes Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Herpes, including details on herpes simplex virus (hsv), genital, oral, symptoms, treatment.

High incidence of genotypic variance between sequential herpes simplex virus type 2 isolates from HIV-1-seropositive patients with recurrent genital herpes.

Roest RW, Maertzdorf J, Kant M, van der Meijden WI, Osterhaus AD, Verjans GM

Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

We developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, based on strain-to-strain variation of DNA repeats in the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) genes US1 and US12, to genotype HSV-2 strains and determine the incidence and risk factors associated with HSV-2 superinfection in patients with recurrent genital herpes (RGH). Forty-seven (92%) of 51 unrelated HSV-2 isolates could be distinguished. Genotyping of sequential HSV-2 isolates showed a different genotype in all of the 11 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-seropositive patients with RGH, compared with 1 of the 8 HIV-1-seronegative patients with RGH. The PCR approach developed distinguishes unrelated HSV-2 strains efficiently and indicated a high incidence of genotype variance between sequential HSV-2 isolates of HIV-1-seropositive patients with RGH.

Published 22 September 2006 in J Infect Dis, 194(8): 1115-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Herpes Research Today. All Rights Reserved.