Herpes Simplex Virus Diagnosis

Diagnostic methods of genital herpes mostly depend on what stage the patient goes to the doctor.

In case of common symptoms of genital herpes to make an accurate diagnosis it is enough to simply examine the patient.

Pain, itching, burning, appearing of bubble rash in genitals area even without laboratory tests may point to genital herpes.

If the picture of herpes is not so frank, there is need to make laboratory tests.

Laboratory tests for detecting genital herpes are divided in three groups:

• methods of detecting herpes simplex virus by growing the virus in chicken embryos
• methods of detecting herpes simplex  virus antibodies - Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
• polymerase chain reaction (PCR)