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STD Testing Information About Herpes
One of the most commonly sexually transmitted disease is both women and men is herpes. The condition in many carriers is asymptotic and this is the primary reason why there are many undiagnosed cases of the disease. People might have a herpes infection and they can go without having any symptom for many years. The problem arises when the person is unaware of the infection and they are sexually active and that also with multiple partners. The disease is usually diagnosed very late and one only realizes when enough reproductive damage has been caused to the person who carries the virus.
A person might have normal flu like symptoms like aching joints, headaches and fatigue and because of these mild episodes one does not realize the presence of the herpes virus. People only get alert when they notice STD symptoms in the inguinal area like presence of swollen lymph nodes. When examined one can feel these as enlarged peas on the skin surface. One can also notice sores in the genital areas and most often on both sides. These cause a lot of pain during urination and there is postulant discharge from the vagina or the penis along with severe itching.
The sores in herpes can initially be noticed as blisters which occur in clusters. The stage of blisters does not remain so for a long time and they ultimately turn into ulcers. These ulcers appear on the mucous membrane of the skin and a crust and scab forms on them. These ultimately fall off and heal the tissue. A woman can easily feel the presence of sores in the cervical lining and so can men in the urethral passage. The infected cells marsh off the penis and the cervical lining and then they result in a discharge which is one of the most common symptoms of herpes. After the first emergence, a new string cluster of the herpes sores appear and the outbreak lasts for two to three weeks.
The chances are that if the carrier at any other point had been exposed to oral herpes then there will be antibodies present in the body due to the last infection and these can stop the symptoms of the genital herpes infection. This would result in the sores covering a smaller area and there may be lesser occurrence of the general symptoms. The convalescence and the time taken for recovery also reduce in this case.
By only looking at the sores, it might be very difficult to diagnose the condition of herpes. There can be many reasons for the sores like a fissure or a small crack or broken skin. The most effective way of diagnosing the condition is by getting a proper STD test done. The most accurate and reliable STD test is by taking a culture of the swab. A PCR or polymerase chain reaction is similar to the swab culture and can also be done to test though this is more expensive. A health practitioner might also advise a blood test too.