The facts behind Herpes Testing

You will be surprised of the number of individuals who start getting sexually active at a very early age. This is something that is worrisome because of the increasing number of cases that falls under STDs. Many are even unaware of the importance of having an STD test done regularly especially those under the high risk groups: individuals who have multiple sexual partners with unknown sexual health history, sex workers, and so on.

There are many diseases under the STD list but the herpes is the most common affecting one out of 6 people in the US alone. Testing for herpes is very important especially if there is a positive exposure to the virus causing herpes or you are showing symptoms of herpes like one or more blisters found on or around the rectum or genitals. There are times that individuals who have herpes are asymptomatic like any other STDs on the list.

There are four ways to do Herpes Testing. The one that is considered the best is through culture sampling. This is actually done by swabbing fluids or cells from a fresh blister. This is not 100% accurate sometimes because it sometimes gives false negative results. Other additional test is done to confirm it like an antigen detection test which is done along with the viral culture. Herpes sometimes do appear with symptoms, if such is the case then Polymerase Chain Reaction Test is done. PCR helps find DNA of HSV and be able to differentiate HSV1 from HSV2. This is useful when there is suspected brain involvement. The last of the methods is an antibody test which is considered to be less accurate. This is not helpful if the patient’s infection just recently occurred because antibodies take time to be produced in the body after an infection occurred.

Now it is for you to decide if testing for herpes is a good idea or otherwise. But it is always good to be on the safe side, which is undergoing regular check-ups or screening tests to monitor your health status every now and then. 

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