Could this be type 1 or 2?

[english229]

Hello, I have recently been diagnosed with genital herpes by viral culture/swab in England. Unbelievelably they have told me that the test does not tell if it is type 1 or 2! I have never had sex without a condom and the person I believe i got this from, we used a condom which remained in tact. He also gave me oral sex and this happened one week after he had had a tongue piercing done!

The initial infection started in the crease of my upper thigh and then i got blisters on my buttocks and pubic area, the doctor said there were no lesions on or inside my vaginal area. Also a bacterial infection was found whih i believe was caused by me scratching the inital outbreaks as my clothes rubbed on them and made them itchy, on analysis my doctor thought it wasn't herpes as the skins area affected on my thigh was huge, red and as he said unlike herpes. But the test was positive for herpes and a bacterial infection.I took medication for both.

I have had no further recurrences since then but am desperate to know what type it is but in England it seems they just don't care. Any help would be most appreciated. Thank You.

[gracefromHHP]

You can get a type specific herpes igg blood test done but it's my understanding you won't be able to get it done thru th GUM clinic - you'll have to go get it done at a private clinic and pay for it.    I'd wait 3 months before you bother doing that though.  should you get a return of symptoms before that - return to the clinic for a lesion culture and insist they type it this time.

grace

[english229]

Thankyou for your reply, it will be 3 months next week so I am going to look for somewhere to test me privately.

I meant to say they when I was diagnosed it was by 'lesion culture' but they just said they don't type it!

Do you think it would be likely to be type 2 seeing as we used a condom and he had no visible sores? I read up about toungue piercings and one of the risks was transmission of herpes. Also my outbreak was horrendously bad! Sorry for all the questions but yours and other American sites have been much better resouces then English sites.

[gracefromHHP]

the tongue piercing would've most likely triggered a hsv1 oral infection to be more active to be transmitte dthru oral sex but it could be hsv2 from genital sex too. Only additional testing will help you figure that out.  hsv1 genitally is more common in the UK than hsv2 is too.

grace