Guinea pig herpes simplex keratitis treated with a lymphocyte extract

Nonspecific local immune inhibition of herpes simplex virus keratitis

Rabbit cornea, which had recovered from initial sensitization to bovine serum albumin were found to possess immune memory capable of responding to a totally different antigenic stimulus, i.e., viable herpes simplex virus. Two months after BSA sensitization these corneas were found to be extremely resistant to primary infection by the virus. The long term residence of mononuclear leukocytes in the cornea, following BSA sensitization, is apparently responsible for this non-specific immune phenomenon.

Leukocyte migration inhibitory factor in primary and recurrent ocular infections by herpes simplex-virus

Using a direct assay of leukocyte migration inhibitory factor (LMIF), cell-mediated immunity to herpes simplex virus (HSV) antigen was measured in patients who had primary and recurrent ocular HSV infections. Those with primary and recurrent epithelial disease had a significantly lower production of LMIF than a control population than had had no herpetic infection for at least a year or longer (P less than 0.001). On the contrary, patients with deep stromal involvement and anterior uveitis showed significant migration inhibition with HSV antigen, similar to the one found in the healthy control group. The clinical and possible therapeutic implications of thes findings are discussed.

The treatment of herpetic reinfection with levamisole

The effect of levamisole on both clinical disease and virus recovery was studied in rabbits that were first infected with herpes simplex virus in one eye and then reinfected 14 days later by inoculation of the second eye. Reinfected rabbits treated with levamisole before reinfection developed significantly milder and smaller lesions than untreated controls. Virus recovery from the corneas was also less in the levamisole-treated animals than in the untreated controls.