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This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of neutralizing antibodies to Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-I) and type 2 (HSV-2) in pregnant women at labor stage. Blood samples from umbilical cord of four hundred women aging 16 to 40 years at labor stage were collected. After sera separation quantity of anti HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibodies were measured by serum neutralization test. Antibody quantification was assayed by two fold dilution of sera (from 1/2 to 1/256) with 500 Tissue Culture Infective Dose fifty percent (TCID50) of the HSV-1 and HSV-2, separately. Three hundred sixty three (90.75%) of women had neutralizing antibody against HSV-1. Thirty three (8.25%) tested women were seropositive for HSV-2 antibodies. Our results indicate that there is positive correlation between increase of age and seroprevalence of anti-HSV-2 infection in pregnant women. Furthermore, the pattern of HSV-2 infection is similar with other Sexual Transmitted Disease (STD). These results also show that seroprevalence of anti-HSV-1 antibody in our tested population was remarkable. However, the seroprevalence of anti-HSV-1 antibody in different age groups statistically were not significant. These results also showed that most women before fertility age have infections with HSV-1.

Herpes simplex virus produces primary and latent infections with periodic recurrency. The prime-boost immunization strategies were studied using a DNA vaccine carrying the full-length glycoprotein D-1 gene and a baculovirus-derived recombinant glycoprotein D, both expressing herpes simplex virus glycoprotein D-1 protein. Immunization with recombinant DNAs encoding antigenic proteins could induce cellular and humoral responses by providing antigen expression in vivo. Higher immune response, however, occurred when the recombinant proteins followed DNA inoculation. While all groups of the immunized mice and positive control group could resist virus challenge, a higher virus neutralizing antibody level was detected in the animals receiving recombinant protein following DNA vaccination.

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Genital Herpes is a common sexually transmitted disease that is caused mostly by Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Its prevalence has increased in developing countries in spite of the availability of valuable antiviral drug therapy. Considering the importance of HSV-2 infections, effective vaccines remain the most likely hope for controlling the spread of HSV diseases. In the present study, the complete HSV-2 glycoprotein D gene was isolated and cloned into different plasmid vectors to construct a DNA vaccine and prepare recombinant subunit vaccines using a baculovirus expression system. The vaccines were tested alone or in combination to evaluate their ability to induce protective immunity in guinea-pigs against genital HSV infections. Immunization elicited humoral responses as measured by neutralization tests and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and immunized animals had less severe genital skin disease as well as reduced replication of the challenging virus in the genital tract during experimental infection. Our results further demonstrate that DNA priming-protein boosting induced a neutralizing antibody titer higher than that obtained with DNA-DNA vaccination. The massive increase of antibody titer following DNA priming-protein boosting might be attributed to a recall of B cell memory.