Non-invasive method for early diagnosis of herpes simplex encephalitis.

For the early diagnosis of herpes simplex encephalitis IgG and IgM antibodies to herpes simplex virus in cerebrospinal fluid were measured by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a local production index was calculated. Using these three criteria, 31 cases of various neurological illnesses were analysed. All eight cases of herpes simplex encephalitis were diagnosed correctly in the acute phase, and there were no false positive results.