Rapid diagnosis of herpetic encephalitis in children by PCR-microarray technology for simultaneous detection of seven human herpes viruses

The aim of the study was to evaluate retrospectively the usefulness of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-microarray technology, which can simultaneously detect seven human herpes viruses for rapid and accurate diagnosis of herpetic encephalitis in children. We simultaneously amplified herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2); varicella-zoster virus; Epstein–Barr virus (EBV); cytomegalovirus (CMV); and human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6A and HHV-6B) by multiplex PCR, and genotyped by DNA microarray technology. The multiplex primers and oligonucleotide probes were designed and synthesized based on the highly conserved regions of the DNA polymerase gene in human herpes viruses. Two hundred ninety cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens from children with clinical suspicion of viral encephalitis were screened by PCR-microarray technology. The results were compared with those of TaqMan PCR kits of common herpes virus. The PCR-microarray technology could detect as few as 10 copies of viral loads. There was no nonspecific hybridizing signal between probes and no cross-reaction to DNA extracted from the pathogens we used. Of 290 cases, 11 were tested positive by PCR-microarray technology. Among them, three were positive for HSV-1, two were positive for HSV-2, one was positive for EBV, two were positive for CMV, two were positive for HHV-6A, one was positive for HHV-6B, and one showed mixed infection of HSV-2 and CMV, and the positive rate was 3.8%. Compared with the results of TaqMan PCR, the sensitivity of PCR-microarray technology was 91.7%, the specificity was 100%, and the index of accurate diagnosis was 0.917. None of the 30 control CSF specimens was tested positive in both methods. Our study suggests that the simultaneous detection of seven human herpes viruses by PCR-microarray technology is the method of choice for rapid, accurate, and specific etiological diagnosis of herpetic encephalitis in children.