engleski

Frequency of HSV1 and HSV2 genital infection in patients attending sexually transmitted diseases counseling clinic in Zagreb, Croatia

Introduction: Epidemiological data on the frequency of herpes infection in the world are diverse. Reasons for that are following: clinical manifestations of infection are usually not reported, subclinical infections are usually not recognized and methods for detection of infection are not uniform. World Health Organization estimates that around 50% of the world's population is infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) and type 2 (HSV2). HSV1 is usually associated with oral infections while HSV2 is more frequently linked to genital infections. Genital herpes is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. Aim: To determine the prevalence of HSV1 and HSV2 genital infection, depending on the patient’s sex and virus type. Patients and methods: In 2008 and 2009 the 180 patients with unclear symptoms of genital infections, was tested for the presence of HSV1 and HSV2. The group consisted of 86 women, age 22-54 years (median 32 years) and 94 men, age 23-58 years (median 36 years). DNA was isolated from cervical smears and external genital smears using Nucleospin Tissue kit (Macherey-Nagel, Germany). Samples were analyzed using type-specific PCR (according to the method of Hukkanen et al. J Clin Microbiol 38:3214-3218). Results: In the group of 180 patients the overall prevalence of HSV infection was 35.6% (64/180). HSV1 was detected in 13.9% (25/180) cases, HSV2 in 18.9% (34/180) samples and 2.8% (5/180) patients had infection with both viral types, HSV1 and HSV2. In the group of men, 11.7% (11/94) were positive for HSV1, 13.8% (13/94) for HSV2 and 2.1% (2/94) had both HSV types. In the group of women HSV1 was detected in 16.3% (14/86) samples, HSV2 in 24.4% (21/86) cases, and both viral types were detected in 3.5% (3/86) of patients. Conclusion: The results showed a high prevalence of HSV infection (a total of 35.6%). In the group of women, the prevalence was 1.6 times higher than in men, 44.2% versus 27.6%, however the difference was not statistically significant.

Genital herpes; HSV1; HSV2; infection prevalence

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