Rapid detection of herpes simplex virus using a combination of human fibroblast cell cultures and peroxidase-antiperoxidase staining.

A method for rapid detection of Herpes simplex virus (HSV), using a combination of human fibroblast cell cultures with peroxidase-antiperoxidase (HF-PAP) staining after 18-24 hours of incubation was developed. The sensitivity of the HF-PAP, compared with viral isolation using primary rabbit kidney and human fibroblast cells, was 88.4% with 20.7% of clinical Herpes isolates detected by HF-PAP before any signs of cytopathic effect (CPE) of HSV were present. The specificity of the new procedure was 98.8%, and overall 739 of 761 specimens (97.1%) were identified correctly by HF-PAP. This system can be used to confirm preliminary or questionable CPE. All of the specimens that exhibited possible CPE at 18-24 hours and from which the virus eventually was isolated were also positive by HF-PAP. However, this method was less sensitive for specimens with smaller amounts of virus. Thus, this method provides a rapid and improved, although not foolproof, means of HSV detection.