Evaluation of three analyte-specific reagents for detection and typing of herpes simplex virus in cerebrospinal fluid

The performance of three analyte-specific reagents (ASRs); Cepheid herpes simplex virus (HSV) Typing Primer Probe set (CD), Eragen MultiCode-Rtx HSV-1/2 kit primer mix (ER), and Roche LightCycler HSV-1/2 Primer/Hybridization Probes (RD), was evaluated for detection and typing of herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens. Of 68 CSF specimens, HSV-1 was detected in 8 specimens and HSV-2 was detected in 17 specimens. ER detected all 25 HSV-positive specimens, whereas CD and RD detected 24 and 23 HSV-positive specimens, respectively. The results of HSV typing with the 3 ASRs were in complete agreement. The analytical sensitivity of all ASRs was determined to be about 101 copies/reaction. Our results demonstrate that the performances of all 3 ASRs are comparable and reliable for routine clinical testing in detection and typing of HSV DNA in CSF.