TABLE 3.

Selected Studies in Corneal Latency and Persistence of HSV

Author(s)	Summary	Conclusions
Remeijer et al⁶⁹	HSV-1 DNA load in corneas with HK correlated with age, recurrence-free interval, corneal neovascularization, disease severity, and graft rejection whereas qPCR in donor corneas was not predictive	HSV-1 qPCR has clinical value if performed on excised corneas of patients with HK, whereas screening donor corneas by qPCR may not
Polcicova et al⁶⁸	HSV-1 US9-mutant caused stromal keratitis in mice despite an impaired ability to travel anterograde along sensory nerves	HSV may not need to travel to and from trigeminal ganglia to cause stromal keratitis, supporting the idea that corneal latency may be possible
Robert et al⁷³	HSV in corneal tissue without clinical disease confirmed by PCR with infectivity demonstrated by culture	HSV DNA in corneal tissue can be transmitted during transplantation, consider excluding high risk eye bank tissue
Zheng¹⁰²	Corneas in rabbits latently infected with HSV-1 can transmit virus to naïve rabbits suggesting the possibility of corneal latency with increased transmissibility in LAT-positive viral strains	Consideration of ocular HSV history in donor is important along with close follow-up
Remeijer et al⁷⁰	HSV-1 transfer from donor to recipient confirmed by PCR led to blindness	Further studies are required to determine the nature of latency and localization of HSV in corneal tissue
Morris et al⁵⁸	Donor cornea culture media from 3 of 80 corneas were positive for HSV DNA by PCR, which did not result in ocular infection^a	Screening of donor culture medium for HSV could not be recommended

qPCR = quantitative polymerase chain reaction; HK = herpetic keratitis.

Study based on organ culture eye-banking method.