herpes culture

[m25wash]

I recently got a friction burn on my penis while on a long distance run.  The area was red and tender for a couple of days and then began to heal, however, while exercising later on I quickley pulled off my clothing and underwear and opened the scabs that were forming in the injured area.  A couple of days later the area began to swell and three or four pus filled vessicles began to form.  I went to the doctor who gave me bacitracin cream and suggested a herpes test because of the location.  After putting the bacitracin cream on the sores went almost completely away within the next couple of days but the herpes test came back positive.  This did not make sense to me since I was not having an outbreak of anything the sores were all in the exact location of the original injury and they cleared with bacitracin suggesting a bacterial origin to me.  Is it possible that this was a false positive?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

False positive herpes tests are there.

If you get a positive test result, you've either had herpes(at some time in your life), or you have a false positive test (a positive test result but no infection). Studies have shown that HSV is present in genital fluids of people with genital herpes, even when they do not have active herpes lesions. So I feel that you should get the blood tests to detect antibodies for herpes. Swab test may give false results.
To confirm it you can go in for western blot and herpes select test which are the two reliable tests for herpes.

Hope it helps. Take care and pls do keep us posted if you have any additional doubts.