Can you get a blood test to detect herpes or you have to just wait until you are!
Question: Once you have been infected with herpes, a blood test will detect it. I asked this same question to my doctor when I was diagnosed on Friday. Your body produces antibodies to fight it, which helps keeps the symptoms suppressed for a while. Before speaking to my doctor, I was misinformed that you have to have an outbreak before testing positive-it is a question that can be very misleading and confusing!! The test results will have a higer reactive count if you are having an outbreak at the time of the test, which in turn will test positive more clearly than someone who isn't having an outbreak, (this is what happened to me.... I was having an outbreak and didn't even know it until a couple of days later, and my levels were 4.19, which is considered HIGH.) So simply put-You will still test positive if you have it without an outbreak, but it will be more obvious with the outbreak. To test positive, the levels have to be 1.0 or above. This will show up that your body has been trying to fight off the virus.
Answers: Once you have been infected with herpes, a blood test will detect it. I asked this same question to my doctor when I was diagnosed on Friday. Your body produces antibodies to fight it, which helps keeps the symptoms suppressed for a while. Before speaking to my doctor, I was misinformed that you have to have an outbreak before testing positive-it is a question that can be very misleading and confusing!! The test results will have a higer reactive count if you are having an outbreak at the time of the test, which in turn will test positive more clearly than someone who isn't having an outbreak, (this is what happened to me.... I was having an outbreak and didn't even know it until a couple of days later, and my levels were 4.19, which is considered HIGH.) So simply put-You will still test positive if you have it without an outbreak, but it will be more obvious with the outbreak. To test positive, the levels have to be 1.0 or above. This will show up that your body has been trying to fight off the virus.
I think you need to have an outbreak to determine if it's herpes or shingles. They culture the liquid to see which one it could be. But i'm not that sure.
There is a blood test available that can detect the presence of HSV (herpes) in the blood stream and differentiate between HSV-1 and HSV-2 (the blood test will not tell you where the infection is ....genital or oral.....but it will tell you what kind you have.
The test is not covered by most insurance co. (in both U.S. and Canada) and costs around 100.00 (in Canada, not sure about the US). Only certain laboratories can run these tests...though more and more are offering the tests as standardized test kits are available.
Other than that, the only thing that can be done is an actual culture which would have to be taken when there is an outbreak.
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Shingles (aka herpes zoster, or just zoster) is caused by the same virus that causes the chicken pox (varicella zoster virus, VZV). When a person is infected with VSV, after the initial stage (with the chickenpox outbreak) is over, the virus can hide in the nerves of the person for the rest of their life.
Years or decades after the chicken pox stage a person can get shingles which occurs when the virus is reactivated and travels towards the skin causing an often painful, usually localized, outbreak. The shingles usually heal over in 1-2 weeks but some people experience residual nerve pain (postherpetic neuralgia) for months, years after the shingles outbreak.
People who are immune compromised (eg. HIV disease) are more likely to experience a reactivation of VZV and the subsequent shingles, but anyone can experience shingles.