Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1984 Apr;19(4):563–565. doi: 10.1128/jcm.19.4.563-565.1984

Rapid detection of herpes simplex virus in clinical specimens with human embryonic lung fibroblast and primary rabbit kidney cell cultures.

D R Callihan, M A Menegus
PMCID: PMC271122  PMID: 6325499

Abstract

The performance of a culture system for isolation of herpes simplex virus, consisting of one tube each of human embryonic lung fibroblasts and primary rabbit kidney cells, was evaluated. Cultures were incubated at 37 degrees C on a roller drum and observed daily for characteristic cytopathic effect for 5 days. During 1982, a positive isolation rate of 28.1% was seen among 3,154 specimens submitted. Cultures from genital sources were positive more frequently from males (43.8%) than from females (25.5%). Oral lesion cultures were positive as often from males (34.6%) as from females (38.4%). Although detection of herpes simplex virus occurred significantly earlier in rabbit kidney cells on days 1 and 2 of incubation, by day 3 the number of positive cultures was nearly the same in both cell types. By day 4 of incubation, 99.5% of the positive cultures were detected. These results demonstrate that cell culture can be a rapid and sensitive method for detecting herpes simplex virus.

Full text

PDF
563

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Douglas R. G., Jr, Couch R. B. A prospective study of chronic herpes simplex virus infection and recurrent herpes labialis in humans. J Immunol. 1970 Feb;104(2):289–295. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Hanna L., Keshishyan H., Jawetz E., Coleman V. R. Diagnosis of Herpesvirus hominis infections in a general hospital laboratory. J Clin Microbiol. 1975 Mar;1(3):318–323. doi: 10.1128/jcm.1.3.318-323.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Herrmann E. C., Jr Experiences in laboratory diagnosis of herpes simplex, varicella-zoster, and vaccinia virus infections in routine medical practice. Mayo Clin Proc. 1967 Nov;42(11):744–753. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Herrmann E. C., Jr Rates of isolation of viruses from a wide spectrum of clinical specimens. Am J Clin Pathol. 1972 Feb;57(2):188–194. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/57.2.188. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kibrick S. Herpes simplex infection at term. What to do with mother, newborn, and nursery personnel. JAMA. 1980 Jan 11;243(2):157–160. doi: 10.1001/jama.243.2.157. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Landry M. L., Mayo D. R., Hsiung G. D. Comparison of guinea pig embryo cells, rabbit kidney cells, and human embryonic lung fibroblast cell strains for isolation of herpes simplex virus. J Clin Microbiol. 1982 May;15(5):842–847. doi: 10.1128/jcm.15.5.842-847.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. McSwiggan D. A., Darougar S., Rahman A. F., Gibson J. A. Comparison of the sensitivity of human embryo kidney cells, HeLa cells, and WI38 cells for the primary isolation of viruses from the eye. J Clin Pathol. 1975 May;28(5):410–413. doi: 10.1136/jcp.28.5.410. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Miller M. J., Howell C. L. Rapid detection and identification of herpes simplex virus in cell culture by a direct immunoperoxidase staining procedure. J Clin Microbiol. 1983 Sep;18(3):550–553. doi: 10.1128/jcm.18.3.550-553.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Moseley R. C., Corey L., Benjamin D., Winter C., Remington M. L. Comparison of viral isolation, direct immunofluorescence, and indirect immunoperoxidase techniques for detection of genital herpes simplex virus infection. J Clin Microbiol. 1981 May;13(5):913–918. doi: 10.1128/jcm.13.5.913-918.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nahmias A., DelBuono I., Pipkin J., Hutton R., Wickliffe C. Rapid identification and typing of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 by a direct immunofluorescence technique. Appl Microbiol. 1971 Sep;22(3):455–458. doi: 10.1128/am.22.3.455-458.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Redfield D. C., Richman D. D., Albanil S., Oxman M. N., Wahl G. M. Detection of herpes simplex virus in clinical specimens by DNA hybridization. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 1983 Jun;1(2):117–128. doi: 10.1016/0732-8893(83)90041-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schmidt N. J., Dennis J., Devlin V., Gallo D., Mills J. Comparison of direct immunofluorescence and direct immunoperoxidase procedures for detection of herpes simplex virus antigen in lesion specimens. J Clin Microbiol. 1983 Aug;18(2):445–448. doi: 10.1128/jcm.18.2.445-448.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Schmidt N. J., Ho H. H., Dondero M. E. Clostridium difficile toxin as a confounding factor in enterovirus isolation. J Clin Microbiol. 1980 Dec;12(6):796–798. doi: 10.1128/jcm.12.6.796-798.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Whitley R. J., Nahmias A. J., Soong S. J., Galasso G. G., Fleming C. L., Alford C. A. Vidarabine therapy of neonatal herpes simplex virus infection. Pediatrics. 1980 Oct;66(4):495–501. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Whitley R. J., Soong S. J., Hirsch M. S., Karchmer A. W., Dolin R., Galasso G., Dunnick J. K., Alford C. A. Herpes simplex encephalitis: vidarabine therapy and diagnostic problems. N Engl J Med. 1981 Feb 5;304(6):313–318. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198102053040602. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Willey S. H., Bartlett J. G. Cultures for Clostridium difficile in stools containing a cytotoxin neutralized by Clostridium sordellii antitoxin. J Clin Microbiol. 1979 Dec;10(6):880–884. doi: 10.1128/jcm.10.6.880-884.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES