The need for more rapid laboratory diagnosis of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infections has become apparent as the prevalence of HSV in normal and immunocompromised patients continues to increase and as antiviral agents become available. Conventional culture methods require a minimum of one day for isolation and identification of HSV, but may require 7 to 10 days. We are comparing three rapid methods for the detection of HSV: the shell vial assay, the Vidas HSV assay, and the ENZO PathoGene HSV DNA Probe, with the goal of decreasing the isolation and identification time of HSV infections to 2-4 hours. The sensitivity and specificity of each method will be determined.
