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Will Viral Culture Help To Detect HSV1 Genital Infection?
I took a blood test and came back negative for everything except HSV1. The HSV2 test was negative. I get oral cold sores regularly and have since a child. I have never had HSV1 symptoms genitally. However, my ex had culture done for HSV1 and he tested positive and since has had breakouts. We were careful and did not have sex during those times but did engage in unprotected sex at other times. I am worried of the possibility that he may have infected me with HSV1 genitally. If I do a viral culture, will it be able to tell me if I have HSV1 genitally? I understand that it often comes back as a false negative and so if it is negative that doesn t necessarily mean I do not have HSV1 genitally. But what is the likelihood of having contracted it? Is it worth it to do the test? Should I be concerned of infecting future partners? I also heard that if a person does contract HSV1 genitally, it will clear in a year and it will not show symptoms again. If that happens, can you still contract it after the first year?
Tue, 23 Dec 2014
Hello. Thank your writing to us at healthcaremagic
Your concern is absolutely justified.
Herpes is sexually transmittable and even protected sex is not completely safe because a condom does not cover all of the infected skin. The risk is however reduced by 50% when sex is protected.
Therefore it is likely that you may have acquired the infection from your boyfriend and if so you may transmit it to your future partners as well.
Herpes once acquired, whether oral or genital remains so for the rest of life. The frequency of active episodes may however decrease with time but it always stays with you.
Regarding testing culture for virus may not give a positive result specially if you don't have any visible sores.
It would be better to go for PCR testing; PCR is more sensitive and 100% specific. Moreover, PCR can pick up infection even during the asymptomatic stages unlike viral culture.
I suggest you to talk to your doctor for more details regarding testing.
Regards
Your concern is absolutely justified.
Herpes is sexually transmittable and even protected sex is not completely safe because a condom does not cover all of the infected skin. The risk is however reduced by 50% when sex is protected.
Therefore it is likely that you may have acquired the infection from your boyfriend and if so you may transmit it to your future partners as well.
Herpes once acquired, whether oral or genital remains so for the rest of life. The frequency of active episodes may however decrease with time but it always stays with you.
Regarding testing culture for virus may not give a positive result specially if you don't have any visible sores.
It would be better to go for PCR testing; PCR is more sensitive and 100% specific. Moreover, PCR can pick up infection even during the asymptomatic stages unlike viral culture.
I suggest you to talk to your doctor for more details regarding testing.
Regards
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