Comparison of Herpes Simplex Virus PCR with Culture for Virus Detection in Multisource Surface Swab Specimens from Neonates.

The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends herpes simplex virus (HSV) culture or PCR for testing of swabs of the conjunctivae, mouth, nasopharynx, and rectum (surface swabs) from neonates. The objectives of this study were to compare the performance and time to results of HSV PCR with those of HSV culture with surface swabs from neonates. Banked multisource surface swab samples that were collected from infants less than or equal to 30 days old from January 2017 to December 2017 and that had previously been cultured for HSV were identified and tested retrospectively by HSV PCR. Surface swab samples from 97 patients were included in the study. Of these 97 patients, 7 (7%) had clinical HSV disease. Of the 7 neonates with HSV disease, 3 (42.9%) had surface swabs positive by culture and 6 (85.7%) had swabs positive by PCR. Limiting the analysis to specimens that were positive only by culture or only by PCR, the specificity for both methods was 100%, but the sensitivity of PCR was 100%, whereas it was 50% for culture. During the study period, 341 HSV cultures and 426 HSV PCRs were performed. The median time from swab collection to reporting of results was 7.6 days (interquartile range [IQR], 7.1 to 7.9 days) for culture and 0.8 days (IQR, 0.6 to 1.0 days) for PCR. HSV PCR of surface swabs from neonates was considerably more rapid and sensitive than HSV culture without yielding false-positive results. Although larger studies are needed to support our findings, strong consideration should be given to utilize PCR instead of culture for the detection of HSV in surface swabs from neonates.