This is for all the healthcare disorder savy peole out there. Is herpes simplex !


Question: i know it's primarily spread by sexual contact with an active outbreak or viral shedding, and that it retreats back into main nerves along the spinal cord nearest the infection. there are blood tests as well as smears for it. the question is, is it in itself bloodborne, is that what the titer tests for (the virus itself) or the T-memory cells and antibodies that fight the virus. Also, that said, can someone with HSV-2 donate blood. I did some research with the local blood banks just out of curiosity and found that they do not test for HSV-2 in donor blood, which lead me to believe the actual virus is not blood borne? either that or the need for blood far outweighs the risk? or i just live in a dangerously retro-medical city


Answers: i know it's primarily spread by sexual contact with an active outbreak or viral shedding, and that it retreats back into main nerves along the spinal cord nearest the infection. there are blood tests as well as smears for it. the question is, is it in itself bloodborne, is that what the titer tests for (the virus itself) or the T-memory cells and antibodies that fight the virus. Also, that said, can someone with HSV-2 donate blood. I did some research with the local blood banks just out of curiosity and found that they do not test for HSV-2 in donor blood, which lead me to believe the actual virus is not blood borne? either that or the need for blood far outweighs the risk? or i just live in a dangerously retro-medical city

No, it is not blood borne.

The blood test for herpes tests for antibodies to the virus, not the virus itself.

Yes, someone with herpes, hsv-1 or hsv-2 can give blood, which is probably a good thing as 90% of the population have one or the other!

Rules about giving blood vary from country to country, but in general:

You should not give blood during a primary outbreak, and some countries stipulated a time after the primary - for example 6 months or a year - when you can start to give blood. I think Canada insists on 12 months after contracting it, while the US only insists you aren't having an outbreak. They can occasionally detect the virus in the blood of someone having a primary outbreak, but not during subsequent outbreaks, once a person have developed antibodies to the virus.

Most countries say you cannot give blood while you have an active cold sore or a genital herpes outbreak. Some countries say you have to wait for four weeks after a cold sore or outbreak to give blood. This is not for the proteciton of people receiving the blood, but because giving blood puts a strain on the body which could exacerbate an outbreak of herpes if you already have one and therefore your immune system is not quite up to scratch - just like you shouldn't give blood while fighting off another virus such as a cold or the flu.

I am not an expert, but I have inquired about being blood at Red Cross while being HSV2+, and I was able to as long as I was not having an outbreak or on medication. So I suspect that the virus hides in the spine or what not unless it is active, like when you are having an outbreak.

Also, when they do a blood test for HSV, they test for the presence of antibodies, not for the virus itself. When you first get infected with Herpes, it can be in your bloodstream which is why they say that is the most dangerous time to be pregnant - when you first get Herpes.

So generally, Herpes is not bloodborne. It is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact.

http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract...

Is that helpful dude? Whats the gig?





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