Testing with symptoms: viral culture
April 29th, 2008 | by admin |If symptoms of herpes appear, they can vary widely from person to person. If a person does experience signs of infection, we recommend obtaining a culture test (a swab from the symptom) within the first 48 hours after a lesion appears. Results are usually available in about a week’s time.
The major advantage of the culture is its accuracy in giving a positive result. A culture can also be “typed” to determine whether the infection is caused by HSV-1 or HSV-2. If you test positive by viral culture, you can be sure you have the virus.
The major disadvantage of the culture is its high rate of false negatives. Because a culture works by requiring virus that is active, if a lesion is very small, or is already beginning to heal, there may not be enough virus present for an accurate culture. Beyond 48 hours of the symptoms appearing, there is a risk of receiving a false negative test result. Viral culture is even less accurate during recurrences (positive in only about 30% of recurrent outbreaks).
