herpes 2 virus

[wonka74]

is it possible that i contracted herpes years ago and only had 1 outbreak in ths past august in the form of shingles and blisters on my chest?  is it possible that i never broke out on the genital area?

[auntiejessi]

Cultures are notorious for false negatives for any herpes culture, because the culture has to be done with 24-48 hours of getting the symptoms.

So its possible you had shingles, and the test was just innaccurate.  If you are concerned about hsv2, just get a type specific IgG blood test.

AJ

[scared_half_to_death]

HSV2 can show in a blood test. It is possible but unlikely, that the blisters on your chest could have been HSV2.

Genital Herpes is infection below the waist by a herpes virus. It could be an infection by HSV1 or HSV2. However, most genital herpes infections are caused by HSV2.

[wonka74]

thanks for the response.. will hsv2 show in a blood test or is it only detected via the blisters?  when i had the blisters on my chest, 2 doctors told me it looked like classic shingles but when they swabbed the blister, it came back neg for zoster. coul it have been hsv2?  i've never had any other symptoms of genital herpes.  is gentital herpes the same as hsv2?

[auntiejessi]

If you have hsv2, its not shingles.  Shingles is caused by the virus that causes chicken pox, which is a herpes virus, but totally different than hsv2.

It is possible, however, that you never had any symptoms of hsv2.  About 20% of people with hsv2 are truly asymptomatic, and about 70% have symptoms that are so mild they would never think of herpes causing them.

AJ