Question:
i just got past my first outbreak and everything is healing nicely, finished my valtrex Rx yesterday. unfortunately, a bunch of my test results came back as negative for everything!

i saw a doctor in the 48-72hr time frame, after the blisters had erupted. they did the culture tests at that point and then some more blood work on day 6. the cultures came back negative for both hsv1 and hsv2. My bloodwork for ISA and ELISA tests also came back negative for hsv1 and hsv2. as a biologist, i completely understand how these tests can come back negative even though i might still have a hsv infection.

its just frustrating that i cant know if its type 1 or type 2. i suppose i will have to wait until my next outbreak and try testing again. just being able to call this beast by its name would bring some closure for me.

does anybody else continue to be "unspecified"?

Answer:
I know how you feel. I am assuming I have it, but all I got was 3-4 tiny bumps that wre gone in about 48 hours. No other symptoms at all. It would be nice to know if this really is it, or something else of no consequence.

Answer:
maybe its not herpes...there are some other stds that have the same signs as herpes. and since u did the blood, AND a culture w/ the active sores> it just might be negative. but it might have been to early to dectect through a test.

have urself retested when u get the chance. u dont need to wait for a ob.

Answer:
syphillis clamidya and gohnerria cause syptoms like herpies sometimes and so can an overly active yeast infection so i would go get tested for EVERYTHING all of the top ten stds because if it's not herpes all of that other stuff can make you sterile or cause alot of other aweful problems i hope this helps

Answer:
while i was getting tested for hsv, i was tested also for...

HIV (type 1 and 2 antibody)
syphillis (rpr screen)
gonorrhea (endocervix probe)
chlamydia (endocervix probe)
hepB (surface antibody)
hepC (antibody)


....and they all came back as either negative or non-reactive.


the hsv tests i've had are.....

culture
ISA
ELISA

..... they also came back negative.

there is still one more hsv test i can try and its a PCR-based type of test, but the problem is that it's not available everywhere. So I need to figure out who in my area provides it. PCR tests are quite sensitive, a gold standard even. In fact, I do PCR reactions in the lab all the time (again, biologist by trade) and I understand how how sensitive they can be.

However, I do still have to wait till my next outbreak to do that because it requires a lesion sampling.

Answer:
Culture tests are unreliable. Mine came back negative the first time then positive at the next outbreak. As for blood tests, it's take months for the antibodies to show up in your system.