Detection of herpes simplex virus type 2-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies in African sera by using recombinant gG2, Western blotting, and gG2 inhibition.

Sera (n = 781) from four African countries were used to determine the prevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) antibodies by using the HerpeSelect HSV-2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Focus Technologies) and Western blotting (WB). Also, an HSV inhibition assay was developed to evaluate the discordant sample results between HerpesSelect and WB. The seroprevalence of HSV-2 ranged from 17% in the South African panel to nearly 70% in panels from Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Overall, HerpeSelect was 100% sensitive and 88% specific compared to WB and 100% sensitive and 96% specific compared to the inhibition assay. There was 100% concordance among all three assays for samples from South Africa and Zimbabwe. The discordant results occurred in samples from Kenya and Uganda.