[Rapid diagnosis of ophthalmic herpes].

The developed method for rapid diagnosis of ophthalmic herpes is based on quantitative estimation of the results of immunofluorescent studies of the cells in scrapings off the eye conjunctiva. A total of 213 patients were examined with the use of this method; herpes simplex virus antigen was detected in 56.5%, but only in 23.5% of the examinees the antigen levels surpassed 10 and 100-fold the levels of basal virus carriership. Parallel clinical laboratory diagnostic investigations have shown that the second and third stages of the virus antigen accumulation in the conjunctival cells correlated with the severity of the clinical symptoms.