Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis in Hamadan, Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Encephalitis can cause a severe public health problem. The main aim of this research was to evaluate the medical laboratory results of patients with Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) encephalitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Diagnosis of encephalitis for these patients was firstly based on a clinical profile for Herpes Simplex Encephalitis (HSE), plus either a detected HSV1&2-DNA by PCR in CSF or brain neuro-imaging results. RESULTS Molecular testing on CSF showed that 15 patients (15%) had HSV infection, 5 patients (5%) had Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) and one case was positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-RNA in CSF. The cause of encephalitis in 79 out of 100 patients (79%) was unknown. The comparison of CSF analysis in HSV positives and negatives showed a significant increase of glucose and protein levels in HSV positives than negatives. The mortality rate was 46.6% (7/15) in patients with HSV encephalitis compared to 11.4% (10/85) in non-HSV encephalitis (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS In the current study, 15% of cases were diagnosed as having HSV.