investigations
Last reviewed 03/2021
The diagnosis is usually made clinically. Patients with typical target lesions and a history or coexisting of HSV infection the diagnosis should be easy but if there is any doubt (an atypical presentation or recurrent erythema multiforme without a history of HSV infection) confirmation is by skin biopsy (1).
Other investigations are directed at finding the underlying cause, and thus include:
- drug history
- chest radiology
- atypical pneumonia titres
- Tzanck smears
- viral culture from scrapings
- autoantibodies
Reference: