Differentation of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 in CSF of patients with HSV encephalitis and meningitis by stringent hybridization of PCR-amplified DNAs.

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Diferentiation of herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 17 patients with serologically diagnosed HSV encephalitis and meningitis or acute limbic encephalitis was determined by stringent hybridization of ploymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified DNAs. Ten of 17 patients were positive ; six with HSV 1 isolates and four with HSV 2 isolates. We detected HSV type 1 in two cases of meningitis, although meningitis is generally thought to be caused by type 2. Additionally, HSV type 2 was found in one case of acute adult encephalitis, generally due to HSV type 1. HSV DNAs could be detected for over one month after onset, although our cases contained several prolonged and recurrent cases. HSV DNA genomes were not detected in three cases of acute limbic encephalitis. Our study indicates that this method can be used for type differentiation in HSV CNS infections.