Can a Regular Blood test Detect Herpes? (Reason i ask is because my friend asked me to ask you guys)?
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Answers:
The first two answers are correct! If you go in for general blood work herpes will not be detected. You need to have a test that specifically looks for the herpes antibodies.
Type specific blood tests are highly accurate and can determine if you have either type 1 or type 2 herpes. They cannot tell you how long you have had the virus or where the virus resides in your body.
Blood tests can be done if you don't have any visible symptoms are concerned about having the virus. Blood tests don't actually detect the virus, but they look for the antibodies that your body produces in response to the presence of the virus.
There are currently four FDA-approved blood tests that can give accurate results for herpes. Like any blood test, these tests cannot determine whether the site of infection is oral or genital. However, since most cases of genital herpes are caused by HSV-2, a positive result for type-2 antibodies most likely indicates genital herpes.
The tests are:
biokitHSV-2 Rapid Test
HerpeSelect® HSV-1 and HSV-2 tests
Herpes Western blot
CAPTIA™ HSV IgG Type-Specific ELISAs
The biokitHSV-2 Rapid Test (manufactured by biokit USA) is a blood test that can be done in a doctor's office and provides results for HSV-2 in less than 10 minutes.
You can get a specific herpes simplex antibody test which can tell you if you've been infected with HSV 1 or HSV 2 in the past.
However, you can't tell from a blood test whether such infections are oral (cold sores) or genital (genital herpes). You can get either virus on either site.
About 80 per cent of people get HSV 1 at some stage of life and 15 to 20 per cent get HSV 2. Often people aren't aware they have either virus - they don't get any noticable symptoms.
No, a regular blood test will not test for herpes. The only time a herpes test will show positive is if you are on an outbreak. (if you have physical signs of the disease) Then, they will culture them, to see what it is. Blood does not show herpes no matter how long you've had it.
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