Herpes simplex infection of the female genital tract. II. Association of cytopathic effect in cell culture with site of infection.

Abstract

In our continuing effort to elucidate the relationship between infection of the female genital tract with herpes simplex virus (Herpesvirus hominis) and cervical carcinoma, we have been studying and comparing the biologic characteristics of strains of herpesvirus isolated from genital and nongenital sites. This relationship has also been investigated by Naib [1] and Rawls et al. [2]. Both groups found a positive correlation between evidence of genital infection with herpesvirus and the development of cervical neoplasia. A previous report [3] indicated that a group of approximately 500 women with a relatively high risk of developing cervical carcinoma had a 1.6% rate of genital infection with herpesvirus compared with an infection rate of less than 0.1% in approximately 1,900 normal women. It has been established that there are at least 2 antigenic types of human herpesvirus [4, 5]. It appears that the antigenic group of viruses referred to as type 1 is the cause of nongenital infections, whereas antigenic type 2 strains are responsible for herpes genitalis [6]. Genital strains can be differentiated from nongenital strains by their cytopathic effect in cultures of HeLa cells [7], rabbit kidney cells, and human lung fibroblast cells [8]. Genital and nongenital isolates also can be differentiated by their growth and thermal stability curves [8], by the size of pocks produced on the chorioallantoic membrane of embryonated eggs [9-11], and by their degree of neurovirulence in rabbits and mice [8]. This report describes a cytopathologic comparison of genital and nongenital strains of herpesvirus which were cultivated in human embryonic kidney cell cultures. Methods