Herpes swab test?

If they do a swab test to check for herpes and it comes back negative does this mean that the virus isnt on your skin anymore even if you have a sore still. I don't understand how you could have a sore and the test could come back negative even if it was herpes.

[gracefromHHP]

Lesion cultures are frequently falsely negative. If you had it done for the purpose of diagnosing herpes, follow up on it with blood testing 4 months after the last time you had sex.

grace

[CoyoteSRH]

so that means that as long as you still have a sore there is still a chance that a swab test would come back positive?

[gracefromHHP]

Lesion cultures are most accurate if done within 24-48 hours of the appearance of sores.  After that the risk of a false negative rises very quickly.

Regular viral lesion cultures rely on getting enough active virus on the swab initially as well as it surviving the trip to the lab and then also having to actually grow in the lab. Lots of room for false negatives with all of that unfortunately.

grace

[CoyoteSRH]

Would 3 months provide an accurate result for the blood testing?

[gracefromHHP]

With the herpeselect yes, all other herpes igg blood tests you need to wait until the 4 month mark for the most accurate answers.

grace

[CoyoteSRH]

thank you so much for answering my questions.
I have one more...sorry.

If I saw a doctor and she said it looked like i just scratched myself and she highly doubted it was herpes should I trust her and just relax about it until i can get the blood test?