A Seroepidemiological Study of Herpes Simplex Virus Infection in the Patients of Sudden Deafness

Abstract

A serosurvey for antibodies against type 1 and 2 herpes simplex virus (HSV) in 147 serum samples collected from 49 patients suffering from sudden deafness was performed.
1. As to the neutralizing (NT) antibody against type 1 HSV, there was no difference of positive ratio between the patients and the control group. However, the patients had higher positive ratio (78%) of complement-fixing (CF) antibody than the other group (54%). All NT-positive patients possessed CF antibody and the distribution pattern of these antibodies follows “all or none” law. The kinetic survey of the antibody titers during the clinical course revealed the no difference between acute and convalescent stages, and the follow up study for more than one year showed the constant levels of antibodies. The results suggest that if HSV is responsible for the disease as one of causes, the mechanism of infection may be related to reactivation of the latent infection.
2. The patients had the NT antibody against type 2 HSV with significantly higher ratio (43%) than the control (20%). All patients who had antibody to type 2 HSV possessed the antibody against type 1 at the same time, and this phenomenon suggests the reinfection of type 2 HSV after type 1 infection.
Further general investigation between serosurvey and clinical course is required to clarify the virus participation as the cause of the sudden deafness.