confused about positive test results

[mkeokfmr]

I went to the doctor because after having unprotected sex i developed a lesion that began to spread in my inner thigh area.The doctor took a culture of the lesion and she said just to be sure she ran labs also.The results for the culture was a staph infection but she said I was positive for HSV-2 that the number was 5.5 and that anything greater than one was considered positive .She also said that I have to have the infection for at least three months .My question is how can she tell how long i had it ,or how can the culture be staph wouldnt it come back as a herpes infection on the culture ,and if i had been positive for at least three months how was she able to determine that?I never had any symptoms before that one person and i am sure he gave it to me but when i got tested i had been with him in the past two weeks.

[gracefromHHP]

Your hsv2 igg ( I assume that's how you were blood tested - you'll have to find out to be sure ) is positive and above the range where you need confirmatory testing.  There is no way to know how long you've been infected though - it could've been a few weeks ago or a few months or even a few years.  If you have a regular partner, they need tested for herpes too.

You can have hsv2 and also get other things going on in the genital area. It's not the only thing that can go on in the genital area.  You had a culture that said staph so you have that going on currently in that area. Whether it started out as a herpes ob and became secondarily infected with staph it's impossible to tell. Staph infections occur on their own easily since it's on our skin all the time normally and can easily cause deeper skin infections.

grace