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CYPRESS, Calif., May 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued national guidelines designed to help health care providers protect their patients from the health consequences that result from sexually transmitted diseases (STD's). The "2002 Guidelines for Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases" integrate recommendations on the most effective treatment regimens, screening procedures and prevention strategies for STD's. For Genital Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infections the new guidelines recommend that both culture and type-specific serologic tests be available in clinical settings that provide care for patients with STDs or those at risk for STD's. CDC recommends that serologic type- specific gG-based assays, such as Focus Technologies' HerpeSelect(R) brand of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) type-1 and type-2 products, be specifically requested when serology is performed. The guidelines state that accurate type-specific assays for HSV antibodies must be based on the HSV-specific glycoprotein G2 for the diagnosis of infection with HSV-2 and glycoprotein G1 for diagnosis of infection with HSV-1. The complete CDC guidelines are available at http:// www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/rr5106.pdf.