Rapid diagnosis of herpesvirus hominis infections in superficial lesions by immunofluorescent antibody technics.

Scrapings from lesions of the skin and mucous membranes of 14 patients suspected of suffering from suspected Herpesvirus hominis infections were examined by both fluorescent antibody and routine isolation techniques. There was complete correlation between results by both methods in all 14 cases, 12 being positive. No positive fluorescence was obtained from scrapings of seven control patients with a variety of skin diseases. Thirteen patients with corneal lesions were similarly investigated. Of the 10 scrapings which showed positive fluorescence, nine were confirmed by virus isolation. It is suggested that as more antiviral agents become available the application of a fluorescent antibody technique for testing virus sensitivity in tissue culture could become a practical method.