Herpes simplex virus-specific serum immunoglobulin a: detection in patients with primary or recurrent herpes infections and in healthy adults.

A sensitive radioimmunoassay was used to determine levels of herpes simplex virus (HSV)-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) in serial serum samples drawn from patients with primary HSV infections and from persons with recurrent HSV infections, and in single samples from 90 healthy adults. Significantly rising HSV IgA titers were detected in patients with primary infections, whereas those with recurrent infections had nonfluctuating titers. Sera of IgG-seropositive healthy adults were all positive for HSV-specific IgA without special pretreatment.