Background: Recently three different herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) genotypes (A, B and C) were described on DNA sequence data of the glycoprotein E (gE), G (gG) and I (gI) genes.
Objective: To type the circulating HSV-1 wild-type strains in Germany and to monitor potential changes in the molecular epidemiology over the past 10 years.
Study design: A total of 569 clinical HSV-1 isolates from a 10-year survey in Germany were genotyped by a PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of gG and gI. Recombination analysis of the gE gene sequences was performed to reveal intragenic recombinants.
Results: Genotypes A and B strains represented 76% of all strains analyzed and showed a stable distribution within all age groups investigated, independently from the gender. Intergenic gG/gI and intragenic gE recombinants were demonstrated to be less prevalent. Interestingly, for one HIV infected patient a gG/gI genotype switch from A/A to C/A was observed within 3 years.
Conclusion: The first molecular survey of clinical HSV-1 isolates from Germany demonstrated a stable distribution of two different genotypes and recombinants within age groups and over a period of 10 years. Moreover, homologous recombination seems to be an important feature in the evolution of the HSV-1 genome.