A rapid and simple isothermal nucleic acid amplification test for detection of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2

Background: A simple and rapid IsoAmp (R) HSV assay has been developed for qualitative detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 from genital lesions. Sample preparation involved a simple dilution step and the diluted specimens were directly added to the device and amplified by isothermal helicase-dependent amplification (HDA). Amplification products were then detected by a DNA strip embedded in a disposable cassette without any instrument. The total test turn-around time is less than 1.5 h from specimen processing to result reporting. Objectives: To evaluate the analytical and clinical performance of the IsoAmp (R) HSV assay as well as the robustness and reproducibility of the assay. Study design: The analytical sensitivity of the IsoAmp (R) HSV assay was determined using both HSV-1 and HSV-2. Clinical performance was evaluated using 135 frozen specimens collected from patients with suspected HSV infection in genital area. Results: The analytical sensitivity of the assays was 5.5 and 34.1 copies/reaction for HSV-1 and HSV-2 respectively with a 95% confidence interval. When the herpes viral culture was used as the reference standard, the clinical sensitivity and specificity of the IsoAmp (R) HSV assay were 100.0% and 96.3% respectively. The inter-laboratory reproducibility achieved an overall 97.5% agreement by testing a total of 80 blinded HSV-1 samples among five laboratories. Conclusion: Adequate analytical and clinical performance of the IsoAmp (R) HSV assay was demonstrated. This assay is simple to perform and has acceptable inter-laboratory reproducibility. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.