PMID- 37937339
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20240304
LR  - 20240304
IS  - 1758-1052 (Electronic)
IS  - 0956-4624 (Linking)
VI  - 35
IP  - 3
DP  - 2024 Mar
TI  - Does genital herpes symptom history predict herpes simplex virus type 2 antibody 
      positivity?
PG  - 169-175
LID - 10.1177/09564624231213116 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) associated with genital ulcer 
      disease due to herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) are a prominent cause of morbidity 
      and mortality. Serologic screening for HSV-2 is recommended only for individuals 
      with genital herpes symptom history. However, no validated symptom screening tool 
      currently exists. METHODS: Currently asymptomatic adults presenting for routine 
      care at STI clinics in Lima, Peru completed a survey of prior genital herpes 
      symptoms and received HSV-2 serological testing with the Euroimmun Anti-HSV-2 
      (gG2) ELISA IgG (Lubeck, Germany). A sub-sample of indeterminate results were 
      sent for Western blot confirmatory testing. We assessed associations between past 
      symptoms and anti-HSV-2 positivity and corrected the HSV-2 prevalence by 
      re-classifying indeterminates per Western Blot results. RESULTS: We enrolled 131 
      participants between July and October 2022. HSV-2 antibody test results found 
      21.4% positive, 41.2% indeterminate, and 37.4% negative. Excluding indeterminate 
      results, 36.4% were positive. Of participants with no prior symptoms 31.2% tested 
      positive, compared to 35.7% with one prior symptom, 50.0% with 2, and 50.0% with 
      3+ prior symptoms. Among the sub-sample of indeterminates, 92.6% were confirmed 
      positive by Western Blot, bringing the total estimated proportion of participants 
      with HSV-2 antibodies to 59.5%. Either based on the original classification of 
      HSV-2 antibody status or after incorporation of confirmatory testing results, 
      there was no significant association between symptom history and HSV-2 antibody 
      positivity. CONCLUSIONS: With currently available tests, recommendations to 
      screen individuals based on genital herpes symptom history may not be useful. 
      More discriminatory symptom screening tools or HSV-2 antibody tests with better 
      performance are needed.
FAU - Perez, Jessica
AU  - Perez J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-8299-5133
AD  - Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of 
      the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. RINGGOLD: 12223
FAU - Lewis, Katherine A
AU  - Lewis KA
AD  - Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of 
      the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. RINGGOLD: 12223
FAU - Vargas, Silver
AU  - Vargas S
AD  - Centro de Investigacion Interdisciplinaria en Sexualidad, SIDA y Sociedad, 
      Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru. RINGGOLD: 33216
FAU - Klausner, Jeffrey D
AU  - Klausner JD
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-6922-7364
AD  - Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of 
      the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. RINGGOLD: 12223
FAU - Konda, Kelika A
AU  - Konda KA
AD  - Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of 
      the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. RINGGOLD: 12223
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20231108
PL  - England
TA  - Int J STD AIDS
JT  - International journal of STD & AIDS
JID - 9007917
RN  - 0 (Antibodies, Viral)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Herpesvirus 2, Human
MH  - *Herpes Genitalis/diagnosis
MH  - Antibodies, Viral
MH  - Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
MH  - Germany
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Herpes simplex virus
OT  - South America
OT  - location
OT  - other
OT  - screening
OT  - viral disease
COIS- Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts 
      of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this 
      article.
EDAT- 2023/11/08 06:44
MHDA- 2024/03/04 06:48
CRDT- 2023/11/08 04:12
PHST- 2024/03/04 06:48 [medline]
PHST- 2023/11/08 06:44 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/11/08 04:12 [entrez]
AID - 10.1177/09564624231213116 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Int J STD AIDS. 2024 Mar;35(3):169-175. doi: 10.1177/09564624231213116. Epub 2023 
      Nov 8.