Eirini Chatzopoulou1, Maria Trianti, Galinos Fanourakis and Xanthippi Dereka
Objective Apart from the well-established role of bacterial plaque with periodontal disease, several studies have reported a possible role of herpes viruses in the pathogenesis and progression of periodontal disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) in chronic periodontitis patients and healthy subjects and to associate viral presence with clinical parameters. Methods Subgingival plaque samples were harvested from 26 chronic periodontitis patients (CP group) and 11 healthy subjects (H group). One pooled sample from the mesial sites of molar teeth, one sample from the deepest pocket and one sample from a gingivitis site were collected from the CP patients. Each H subject contributed with one pooled sample from the mesial sites of molar teeth. Clinical parameters were recorded in both groups. Nested PCR was employed for viral detection. A chi-square test was used to compare detection frequencies of the viruses between groups and differences in clinical parameters were evaluated by a t-test. Results HSV-1 was detected in 42.3% of the CP and 27.3% of the H subjects (p>0.05). HSV-2 was detected in 30.8% and 18.2% of the CP and H participants, respectively (p>0.05). Regarding the sampling site, the detection frequency of both viruses was similar between the CP and H pooled samples and between the deepest pockets and gingivitis sites within the CP group. HSV-1 was inversely correlated with periodontal pocket depth (p=0.012). HSV-2 was not associated with any clinical parameter. Conclusions These results do not support a possible role of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in the pathogenesis of chronic periodontitis.
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