background: recent research on several dna fragments covering open reading frames (orf) 1-37 shows a new genetic marker in orf 6 which is specific for differentiating wild-type varicella-zoster virus (vzv) strains from oka varicella vaccine strain. on the other hand, herpes simplex virus (hsv) genome analysis by restriction enzymes is used to differentiate types one and two of the virus and eve...

BACKGROUND Herpes simplex virus resistance to acyclovir is well described in immune-compromised patients. Management of prolonged infection and recurrences in such patients may be problematic. METHODS A patient with neuroblastoma developed likely primary herpes gingivostomatitis shortly after starting a course of chemotherapy, with spread to the eye during treatment with acyclovir. Viral isol...

Fibropapillomatosis (FP) of marine turtles is an emerging neoplastic disease associated with infection by a novel turtle herpesvirus, fibropapilloma-associated turtle herpesvirus (FPTHV). This report presents 23 kb of the genome of an FPTHV infecting a Hawaiian green turtle (Chelonia mydas). By sequence homology, the open reading frames in this contig correspond to herpes simplex virus genes UL...

Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) is a life-threatening complication of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. Acyclovir (ACV) is the antiviral treatment of choice, but may lead to emergence of ACV-resistant (ACVR) HSV due to mutations in the viral UL23 gene encoding for the ACV-targeted thymidine kinase (TK) protein. Here, we determined the prevalence of intrathecal ACVR-associated HSV TK mutat...

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein K (gK) is expressed on virions and functions in entry, inasmuch as HSV-1(KOS) virions devoid of gK enter cells substantially slower than is the case for the parental KOS virus (T. P. Foster, G. V. Rybachuk, and K. G. Kousoulas, J. Virol. 75:12431-12438, 2001). Deletion of the amino-terminal 68-amino-acid (aa) portion of gK caused a reduction in effici...