Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To compare ELVIS, a new simple 24-hour cell culture test, to standard cell culture and Herpchek for the detection of ocular HSV-1. This report summarizes both a retrospective and prospective study. Methods: ELVIS (Enzyme Linked Virus Inducible System) can detect live HSV in a specifically engineered cell line within 24 hours. The retrospective study included 36 true-positive (by cell culture) frozen archival ocular HSV-1 samples and 25 true-negative samples (positive for VZV, Adenovirus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus viridans) that were tested for HSV with ELVIS. Herpchek had been processed at the time of initial clinical laboratory testing. Prospectively, 384 patients with suspected herpetic ocular disease were tested for HSV with standard cell culture, ELVIS and Herpchek. Results: In the retrospective study, ELVIS was 86% sensitive (31/36), 100% specific (25/25), and 92% (56/61) efficient. The positive predictive value was 100% (31/31) and the negative predictive value was 83.3% (25/30). The sensitivities of ELVIS (86%) and Herpchek (80.5%, 29/36) were statistically equivalent (p=0.53). In the prospective study, 7.8% (30/384) of the patients were culture positive for HSV. The sensitivity of ELVIS (83.3%, 25/30) was statistically equivalent (p=0.54) to Herpchek 83.3% (25/30). Conclusion: The ELVIS system is an easy-to-perform HSV diagnostic test that can provide a positive result within 24 hours. However, a negative result must be confirmed by a negative standard cell culture.
Keywords: 425 herpes simplex virus • 366 conjunctivitis