Investigation of Herpes Simplex Virus by Real–Time PCR in Cerebrospinal Fluid Samples of the Patients with Suspected Viral Encephalitis and Meningitis

Objective: human herpes viruses have an important role in the pathogenesis of the central nervous system (cns) infections seperating two general category as aseptic meningitis and encephalitis. in this study we aimed to investigate the frequency of herpes simplex virus (hsv- 1/2) in cerebrospinal fluid (csf), biochemical specifications and also bacteriological culture of csf samples in suspected cases of viral infections of cns in our region. material-method: in this study, 110 csf samples sent to our laboratory from patients with suspected cns infection between january 2016- december 2017 were evaluated retrospectively. hsv-1/2 dna presence was evaluated qualitatively with real-time pcr technique by using artus® hsv ½ qs-rgq (qiagen, hamburg, germany) kits on rotor-gene system (qiagen, hamburg, germany). also, protein and glucose levels in csf samples were recorded. furthermore bacteriological culture of csf samples were evaluated simultaneously. results: while, hsv-1 dna was detected by nucleic acid testing in 5 of the 110 patients (4.5%), hsv-2 dna was not detected. the csf glucose and protein levels were found normal in 42 (38%) and 27 (25%) patients, respectively. the csf glucose levels of the patients, who were found to be positive for hsv-1 were high in four patients. also csf protein levels in hsv-1 positive group were detected high in 3 patients. hsv ½ negative 8 different samples were detected positive in bacteriological culture. conclusions: because of the high mortality and morbidity rates in cns infections, initiating of specific antiviral treatment after the rapid identification of the agent is crucial. even though encephalitis caused by herpes viruses were seen more frequent, other viral and bacterial agents must be kept in mind. therefore necessity of moleculer methods are taking over like multiplex pcr which detects multiplexed viral and bacterial agents at the same time and in a short time.