Table 5.

Indirect serological assays for HSV diagnosis

Method	Principle	Sample	Sensitivity	Specificity	Advantages	Disadvantages
Western blot	Western blot HSV-1	Serum	≈100%	≈100%	Reference (“gold standard”) test proposed by University of Washington (USA)	Not commercially available
						Expensive
					[UW-WB]
					Specific of HSV-1 and HSV-2	2–3 days for results
	Western blot HSV-2
					Detect early sero-conversion to HSV-2 in patient with prior HSV-1 infection
					Earliest sero-conversion : 13 days
Enzyme immune-assay	Monoclonal antibody-blocking EIA	Serum’	≈100%	≈100%	Reference (“gold standard”) test proposed by the Central Public Health Laboratory in the United Kingdom; 98% concordance with WU-WB	Not commercially available
			(African sera : 98%)	(African sera : 97%)
					Distinguish between HSV-1 and HSV-2
Enzyme immune-assay	ELISA	Serum	93–98%	93–99%	Commercially available	May lack of sensitivity and specificity
					Distinguish between HSV-1 and HSV-2	Lack of specific on African sera
Point of care tests	Immuno-filtration	Serum Capillaryblood	96%	87–98%	Less expensive than Western blot	Commercially available only for HSV-2
					Accurate results rapidly (6 min.)	Expensive
						Not for large volume screening
					Easily to carry out
					Detects seroconversion within 4 weeks of presentation of 80% of patients with HSV-2 episodes	Complexity nonwaived (moderate)

ELISA:Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; EIA: Enzyme immunoassay;

UW-WB: Western blot test developed at the University of Washington.