Abstract
We encountered a patient with herpes simplex repeatedly developing in the pubic, facial, and dorsal regions over the period of approximately 7 years. In this patient, 2 strains of HSV-2 were isolated heterochronously from different regions.
The isolated HSV-DNA was digested with restriction enzymes, and electrophoresis patterns of the digested DNA fragments were analyzed by DNA fingerprinting. DNA fingerprinting facilitates the differentiation of HSV types and identification of different viral strains belonging to the same HSV type. Therefore, we evaluated whether 2 strains of HSV-2 isolated from this patient were the same strain of HSV based on their biological features such as temperature dependence and sensitivity to acyclovir, in addition to the analysis of cleavage patterns by 5 different restriction enzymes. Consequently, these 2 strains of HSV-2 were very likely to be the same strain.
