Herpes Help

Ever since I was a teenager, I had problems w/ cold sores, But nothing too serious. However I did have problems w/ bumps on my vagina that did bother me -this was an issue for me even before i had any sexual contact. They very in size-some on my labia are smaller and fell more like a small stone is under the skin. Sometimes they are larger and are pus-filled. Sometimes I use a hot compress and that seems to heal them over or decrease there size. However most still leave scars. I have gotten up the courage to see a doctor about this embarrasing issue. A culture was taken from the sore and the test came back that i had a staph infection. An std test was taken. And my results came back that it could not comfirm if i had hsv-1 or hsv-2, all other std's were negative. I told the doctor that i did have a cold sore that was healing when i took the test, so she ruled out the hsv-2. However, another test was taken-this time including pap smear w/ a herpes test. I have been doing more research and have found that a pap smear/herpes test is not reliable and shouldn't be used as a definite diagnosis. Should i be worried about taking another test if a culture was taken? And what would be the most reliable test to take?

[Ophelia23]

Cultures are what most offices use to diagnose herpes infections, BUT they have a fairly high rate of false negatives. If the second culture came back unconfirmed, it would be best to get another test done.

Most experts recommend the type-specific herpes blood test (for types 1 and 2) is the most accurate diagnostic method. Make sure it's type-specific; otherwise you are just wasting time.

(A word of caution: they're quite new, and they produce quite a few "equivocals," which means in between a positive and negative. In reality, equivocal either means negative, or a very early infection. They seem to happen more often if you have an HSV-1 infection. I just put this in because I got an equivocal, and I don't want anyone else to worry like I did X_X )

It really doesn't sound like you have genital herpes if these bumps appeared before sexual contact. You probably have HSV-1 in the mouth area, so don't be frightened if HSV-1 comes back positive. It kinda sounds like you have a nasty staph infection, which should definitely be treated.

[gracefromHHP]

It sounds like you have multiple things going on over a long period of time down yonder.  Staph infections genitally are pretty common and you can get them even when you aren't sexually active.  Also you can get inflammed cysts down yonder too.  At this point whenever you have these symptoms reoccuring, return to your gyn for further work up because sometimes getting rid of staph is a problem.

As for the herpes testing you had done, I'm confused.  Did you actually have a lesion culture of your symptoms that came back as + for herpes but couldn't tell which one or did you just have a test done on the lesion that was inconclusive?  Also the pap test with herpes testing you had done, what was that result?

grace

[gracefromHHP]

"I had a sore on my vagina area, that the doctor took a culture from. The test came back that the culture was staph. But the blood test for std's was negative, except it was reading that it couldn't say positive or negative for hsv-1 or hsv-2. when i went back to the doctor, i did tell her that i did have a cold sore that was healing when the test was taken. so she recommended doing a pap test/herpes test. that came back negative. The medicine for staph was working until i missed a dosage-so i have to take more antibotics. Should I be worried about hsv-2, even if the culture came back as staph?"


That's what you posted in the other post - just put it here so it's all in one place.

I'm still not clear what your original herpes testing was - was it a blood test for herpes or a lesion culture for herpes?

At this point I'd just err on the side of caution and repeat the type specific herpes igg blood test a few months from now.  You can not say you don't have genital herpes based on the herpes test that was done with the pap - that can only detect herpes if you have an active lesion present on the cervix at the time of the pap so a negative on that is meaningless.

grace

[Quest4Truth]

Grace, the doctor took a culture to determine what was the sore was, and it was staph. that same day i did a blood test for std's and the results came back as can not determine hsv-1 or hsv-2. but i will take ur advice and have a igg blood test for herpes.

[gracefromHHP]

definitely repeat the blood test then in a few months since it sounds like it didn't provide any answers anyways :(

grace