Question:
Is there any herpes test that can tell a doctor how long ago someone contracted the herpes virus? e.g. within the last 3 months, 6 months, or year without having previous tested the person?

Answer:
No, without previously testing the person, there's no way to tell.

Answer:
I thought there was a test that could tell you if your virus is recent or an old infection. Maybe I am wrong.

Answer:
Many people, including doctors, believe the IgM test will tell if the infection is recent or not. In theory, the short term IgM antibodies show up first, then dissipate as the IgG antibodies show up and take over, staying with you forever. However, studies have shown, the IgM antibodies will show up in 35% of recurrent outbreaks. Having IgM antibodies can be present at anytime fighting off other infections. A positive IgM result doesn't mean you do have the herpes virus, and a negative result doesn't mean you don't. Any IgM results should just be tossed, because they just muddy the water. Quest Diagnosis, one of the largest national labs in the US no longer offers this test for herpes testing in Adults. Even the CDC doesn't recommend an IgM test, yet for some reason doctors sill order the IgM blood test.

Answer:
when my doc called me with my diagnosis, he told me that i had the virus for more than 5 weeks. i was so shocked at the news that i was infected, that i did not question anything else regarding the length of time i had it?????????????????????

Answer:
you didn't explain if you got an O'b or not,, if you got one, so its usually severe and you might have a flu as a symptom if this was your first one, so your body starts to build anti-bodies to face the disease IgM so with time IgG anti-bodies show up so if the blood test stated positive IgG and negative IgM then the infection is usually Old
briefly...if you got these symptoms with the blood test you can tell if it was a recent infection or not.
i tell you that according to what i have read in this helpfull forum

Answer:
[quote=howcome;24891]you didn't explain if you got an O'b or not. if you are addressing me; the reason i had bloodwork was because i found 3 pimples in my vaginal area. called doc in a panic, they gave me an appt for two days later, but on the second day i got my period, so when i called them they rescheduled the appt. when i went for the appt, there was no sign of anything; so the doc suggested bloodwork. bloodwork came back positive.

Answer:
you know my blood work came positive too but i never has any OB before so i still doubt this blood test.
and as i explained Positive IgM antibodies and negative IgG usually refers to a recent infection.
so you mayb ask your doc for more details.

Answer:
howcome - I've had hsv for at least 10 years and I never had an ob until 2 years ago and I got tested then and it was negative due to timing. I had another major ob in January and the test was then positive. I did have very minor almost insignificant symptoms that I and my dr's did not consider to be hsv related.

It is very common to never have an ob or to have symptoms that are so minor that you just don't notice. This is more common with males.

It's far more common to have a false negative test result than a false positive. If you have tested positive and you ignore those results you are still able to transmit this virus to others.

IgM tests are not the ones to be concerned with - you should be concerned with the IgG results. When you are first infected your body has to create a defense and this takes time. Once the body knows how to defend itself it can create and send this defense immediately, unless your immune system is compromised.

During periods of time when you are not having ob's your body does not need to put efforts into having antibodies ready all of the time so it devotes its attention to what is necessary. If you begin to have an ob your body will send antibodies in full force. Thus if you test during a period of no ob's your antibody levels will be lower and during an active ob there will be more antibodies.

Once you have a test that shows antibodies this proves you have been exposed and since there is no cure and hsv will not go away you can be sure that you have hsv. It is contagious during active ob's and it is contagious during asymptomatic shedding.