When herpes test effective

Although most are symptomatic with genital herpes starts showing symptoms within two weeks after exposure to the virus, the vast majority of people with herpes never have symptoms at all. It does not mean that they still can't transfer the genital herpes virus.

Although the herpes test is not perfect, they are often the only way to know if you are infected. The problem is that many herpes blood tests look for antibodies against virus-and those are not produced right away. The question is this: How long should you wait before you can be reasonably certain a genital herpes blood test to be effective?

Reply: In the presence of symptoms, it is easy for a doctor to diagnose a herpes infection-by simply studying the outbreak or swabbing wounds for herpes virus. In order to determine whether a person is sub-clinically infected-in other words, if they have an infection, but no significant symptoms-must, however, doctors do a blood test.

Blood tests for HSV-2 usually causes genital herpes virus generally look for the presence of antibodies against the virus rather than the virus itself. Unfortunately, it takes some time for the body to mount a detectable antibody response after infection. There is, therefore, you simply can't go get tested the day after, you've been exposed to genital herpes to find out if you have the disease, even if you were infected, at this point, there is no way for the testwho intercepts it. So, how long it will take a genital herpes blood test must be positive after exposure? The answer is that it depends on the test.

Various studies have examined how long it takes from when genital herpes symptoms show up to when an individual test positive on a blood test for HSV-2. As it turns out, vary greatly, both between the examinations and tests. For example, the median time from symptoms of a positive HSV-2 blood test was: HerpeSelect ELISA 21 days for individuals who have HSV-1 negative and for people who were HSV-1 23 days in a positive way. (Ashley-Morrow et al. 2003) Western blot-40 days to people who were HSV-1 negative and for those who were HSV-1 47 days positive. (Ashley-Morrow et al. 2003) Western blot-68 days. (Morrow et al. 2003) Kalon ELISA-120 days. (Morrow al. 2003) Focus ELISA 21 days. (Morrow al. 2003)

In other words, since it generally takes about 2 weeks for symptoms to appear, it is probably a good idea to wait at least a month or two before even considering getting an HSV-2 test after a potential exposure--and you might consider retested after six months. Keep in mind that you only in relation to the median times and that they were very variable. Some infected will seroconvert quickly, while others will take even longer, before a herpes blood test accurately displays them in a positive way.

Note: there is no practical way for researchers to directly answer the question of how long it takes for a positive test to appear in asymptomatic people, because you would have to know that they had been infected and when they had become infected. If a person is asymptomatic, is neither information--because there is no way to tell the infected until they test positive. It is assumed that the course of time to a positive genital herpes blood test match, set in symptomatic individuals, although this assumption is difficult to verify since most asymptomatic individuals for last test positive do not know exactly when they were exposed.

Sources:

Ashley-Morrow R, Krantz E, Wald a. time course of seroconversion by HerpeSelect ELISA after acquisition of genital herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), or HSV-2. Sex Transm DIS. 2003 Apr; 30 (4): 310-4.

Morrow RA, Friedrich D, Krantz E. focus and Kalon enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for antibodies against herpes simplex virus type 2 glycoprotein g in culture-documented cases of genital herpes performance. J Clin Microbiol. 2003 Nov; 41 (11): 5212-4.

CDC Genital Herpes fact sheet.

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