herpes simplex virus

Cytological features suggesting herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection in samples obtained at bronchoscopy have been described only very rarely in routinely processed samples. We report four cases where evidence of HSV infection was identified morphologically in samples processed using thin-layer techniques, with polymerase chain reaction confirmation of the presence of virus in three cases. We suggest that the increased morphological clarity provided by this technique for processing these cytology samples may result in the morphological features of viral