Diagnosis of Genital Herpes by Polymerase Chain Reaction Amplification

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Abstract
A new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method employing type‐specific primers and probes was applied to 114 clinical specimens obtained from 58 female patients with genital lesions or who had a history of genital herpes. Ten and 15 specimens, respectively, were positive for herpes simplex virus (HSV)‐1 and HSV‐2 by cell culture. All of 10 culture‐confirmed HSV‐1 cases and 11 of 15 (73%) culture‐confirmed HSV‐2 cases were identified by PCR. Although there were several cases with discrepancy between cell culture and PCR for HSV‐2, the results suggest that this PCR procedure could be applied to clinical specimens from the female genital tract.