Prevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus in Genital Ulcer Patients: A Cross-sectional Study from South Assam, India

Introduction: Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) causes an ulcerating Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI). It produces painful and recurrent genital ulcers. In recent years, there have been increasing reports of genital herpes due to HSV-1 from various parts of the world. There is a lack of documented HSV Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) studies in this part of the country. So, this study was planned to estimate the prevalence of HSV type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) in patients with genital ulcers. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in patients with genital ulcers. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted at Virus Research Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL), Department of Microbiology, Silchar Medical College & Hospital, Silchar, Assam, India, among all the samples consecutively collected from patients presenting with genital infection in the Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinic of the Department of Dermatology for the period from April 2022 to August 2023. A total of 86 genital swab samples were collected from the base of the ulcer of patients, placed in viral transport media and transported at 4˚C to VRDL for further testing. Out of 86 samples tested for HSV, 44 were males & 42 were females. Viral genomic Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) was extracted from all the samples. Furthermore, from the extracted DNA, Realtime PCR (qPCR) was performed to detect the presence of HSV-1 and HSV-2 genes in the samples. Statistical analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel. Results: Out of 86 samples collected, DNA PCR was positive in 46 (53.5%) patients with genital ulcers. Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 (HSV-2) was detected in 27 (31.4%) samples, making it more prevalent than HSV-1, which was found in 16 (18.6%) samples. Co-infection with both HSV-1 and HSV-2 was observed in three patients (3.5%). Conclusion: Although there is a change in the aetiology of genital herpetic ulcers from HSV-2 to HSV-1, however, the present study showed that there is still an increased prevalence of HSV-2 in genital ulcers found in patients in South Assam.