Rapid Detection and Typing of Herpes Simplex Virus DNA in Clinical Specimens by the Hybrid Capture II Signal Amplification Probe Test

In a recent study by Cullen et al. in which DNA hybridization by the Hybrid Capture II method (HC-II) was compared with cell culture for detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA (1), the culture system missed 7 of 44 (15.9%) of the consensus HSV-positive specimens from symptomatic ulcerative genital lesions. This raises questions about the sensitivity of the culture method. The Discussion section states that three of the negatives were due to greater sensitivity of HC-II and four were due to differences in sampling or inhibitions of culture.