Detection of HSV-1 DNA in patients with Behçet's syndrome and in patients with recurrent oral ulcers by the polymerase chain reaction.

The polymerase chain reaction was used to detect HSV-1 DNA in genomic DNA extracted from peripheral blood leucocytes, in patients with Behçet's syndrome (BS), patients with recurrent oral ulcers and normal healthy controls. A 211-bp HSV-1 DNA fragment was found in a significant number of patients with BS (p less than 0.02). Serum anti-HSV-1 antibodies were also found in a higher proportion of patients with BS (p less than 0.02) than in healthy controls. However, virus-specific DNA was not detected in biopsy samples taken from oral ulcers in patients with BS.