[Investigations on the latent infection of herpes simplex virus-1 in the cornea].
The relapsing rate in 216 patients of recurrent herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) treated with penetrating keratoplasty was 4.2% in 6.5 years, while experimental studies showed that HSV-1 antigens in the cornea disappeared 45 days after the primary corneal infection. Among 18 cases of quiescent HSK, HSV-1 antigens were negative in the corneal tissue, which however turned positive in 6 (66.7%) of 9 cases that were cultured for reactivation, and became infectious to primary rabbit kidney cells. Tests of susceptibility revealed that rabbit keratocytes were most sensitive to infection with HSV-1 strain Mckrae. The authors opined that the cornea might be an additional site to the trigeminal ganglion to harbor HSV-1.
Xie
L X
LX
Institute of Ophthalmology, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Qingdao.
Dong
X G
XG
D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D003315:Cornea / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016849:Keratitis, Herpetic / Q000382:microbiology*; D015948:Keratoplasty, Penetrating; D011817:Rabbits; D012008:Recurrence; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D000956:Antigens, Viral