Test for genital herpes?

[Cathy30]

Are there any tests that can detect genital herpes? How accurate are they?
Thank you

[Dr.Deepak]

Sorry for late reply cathy. Yea there is test for genital herpes. Your doctor may take blood sample that will look for antibodies to virus. So if there is antibodies to either HSV-1 or HSV-2 that means you have herpes. HSV-1 usually affects oral while HSV-2 affects genital,but this is not always the case. Either of them can affect oral or genital. Another test would be cell culture where your doctor will extract sample from the blister base and look for herpes.