BD assays enable HSV-1 and HSV-2 detection

Dr Raj Patel, consultant GUM/HIV physician and senior lecturer at Southampton University, said: 'Genital HSV is the most common cause of genital ulcers in the UK, where it represents the fourth most common sexually transmitted infection.

'Molecular tests provide us with faster and more accurate results, improving our ability to identify infected patients and deliver faster treatment, management and counselling of the patient,' he added.

The BD Probetec HSV-1 and HSV-2 Qx-amplified DNA assays run on the BD Viper system with XTR technology, which uses strand displacement amplification technology to qualitatively detect and differentiate HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA in clinician-collected external anogenital lesion specimens to aid the diagnosis of herpes infection.

'Our new HSV tests are part of a growing portfolio of molecular diagnostics that is designed to give clinicians the tools they need to better manage patients, while providing solutions that drive laboratory efficiency and maximise clinical responsiveness,' said BD Diagnostics' Dr Hilja Ibert, vice-president and general manager for Europe.

Data suggest that laboratories using existing culture methods to diagnose HSV often experience significant false-negative rates, missing up to 25 per cent of true-positive cases.

In addition, many clinicians and laboratories do not distinguish between HSV-1 and HSV-2.

The new BD Probetec HSV-1 and HSV-2 Qx assays offer an improvement in the time to results over culture methods, which often take between two and 10 days for results.

BD's automated HSV assays also provide laboratories with the capability to read up to 96 positive or negative results in about two-and-a-half hours.

Using the BD Viper system with XTR technology, laboratories also will be able to run tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, along with HSV-1 and HSV-2, on a single automated run.