Rapid diagnosis of herpetic keratitis using direct immunoperoxidase technique

The direct immunoperoxidase technique was tested for diagnosis of herpetic keratitis. The technique was performed on corneal epithelial specimens from 28 herpetic keratitis cases and 12 controls. Ulcers were stained with rose bengal or fluorescein and examined at the slit-lamp biomicroscope to differentiate between herpetic and nonherpetic etiology. Scrapings obtained from the corneal epithelial ulcers were stained with direct immunoperoxidase technique. The whole procedure, including staining and examination of the slides, took a total of 70 min. The test proved to be accurate, easy to perform and to interpret, rapid and relatively inexpensive with a sensitivity of 93%, and a specificity of 100%.