Key result
The Du Pont Herpchek enzyme immunoassay demonstrated 99% sensitivity in symptomatic patients but only 58.8% sensitivity in asymptomatic patients compared to cell culture isolation.
Why the study?
Does the Du Pont Herpchek EIA accurately detect HSV in clinical specimens compared to cell culture?
Cross-Sectional (n=779)
Does the Du Pont Herpchek EIA accurately detect HSV in clinical specimens compared to cell culture?
The Herpchek EIA is highly sensitive for detecting HSV in symptomatic patients but lacks sufficient sensitivity for asymptomatic patients with low viral shedding.
Limits Herpchek EIA to symptomatic HSV testing; leaves open need for sensitive assays in asymptomatic screening.
A commercial 5-h direct herpes simplex virus (HSV) antigen detection enzyme immunoassay kit (Du Pont Herpchek) was compared with a cell culture isolation system by using primary rabbit kidney and MRC-5 cells with 779 clinical specimens received in virus transport medium and with stock tissue culture preparations of HSV types 1 and 2. In the first study of 422 specimens from symptomatic patients, Herpchek detected 110 of 111 HSV-positive specimens (26.3% of all specimens), with a sensitivity of 99% and a specificity of 100%. In the second study of 357 specimens primarily from asymptomatic pregnant women, however, Herpchek detected 70 of 119 HSV-positive specimens (33% of all specimens), with a sensitivity of 58.8% and a specificity of 99.5%. Stock virus dilution experiments showed that Herpchek was 10 to 100 times less sensitive than culture. Herpchek was found to be an acceptable test for symptomatic patients, but for asymptomatic patients shedding a low titer of HSV it was not as sensitive and cell culture of Herpchek-negative specimens is recommended for such cases.
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Verano et al. (1990) conducted a cross-sectional in Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection (n=779). Du Pont Herpchek enzyme immunoassay kit vs. Cell culture isolation system was evaluated on Sensitivity and specificity for HSV detection. The Du Pont Herpchek enzyme immunoassay demonstrated 99% sensitivity in symptomatic patients but only 58.8% sensitivity in asymptomatic patients compared to cell culture isolation.
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