{"title":"Differential diagnosis of perianal herpes: sexual abuse or autoinoculation?","authors":"Youssef Nouma, Hana Harzallah, Malek Zribi","doi":"10.1007/s12024-025-01086-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A 13-year-old boy was referred to the forensic department for suspicion of unreported sexual abuse due to the presence of perianal dermatologic lesions. The forensic examination revealed perianal herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) lesions using nucleic acid amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) outside of any traumatic or other dermatological lesions. Repeated serological tests for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were negative. However during the psychological interview, the child reported penile touching by a 15-year-old boy at least one week earlier. Both the examination of the alleged aggressor and the serological tests for HSV and STIs were negative. This case presents a challenge in differential diagnosis and highlights the difficulty in interpreting medical findings in cases of suspected sexual abuse.</p>","PeriodicalId":12449,"journal":{"name":"Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-025-01086-5","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, LEGAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A 13-year-old boy was referred to the forensic department for suspicion of unreported sexual abuse due to the presence of perianal dermatologic lesions. The forensic examination revealed perianal herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) lesions using nucleic acid amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) outside of any traumatic or other dermatological lesions. Repeated serological tests for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were negative. However during the psychological interview, the child reported penile touching by a 15-year-old boy at least one week earlier. Both the examination of the alleged aggressor and the serological tests for HSV and STIs were negative. This case presents a challenge in differential diagnosis and highlights the difficulty in interpreting medical findings in cases of suspected sexual abuse.
期刊介绍：
Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology encompasses all aspects of modern day forensics, equally applying to children or adults, either living or the deceased. This includes forensic science, medicine, nursing, and pathology, as well as toxicology, human identification, mass disasters/mass war graves, profiling, imaging, policing, wound assessment, sexual assault, anthropology, archeology, forensic search, entomology, botany, biology, veterinary pathology, and DNA. Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology presents a balance of forensic research and reviews from around the world to reflect modern advances through peer-reviewed papers, short communications, meeting proceedings and case reports.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
