Diagnosis for Herpes Simplex
There are several ways herpes simplex can be diagnosed. In some cases, a doctor or clinician may only have to examine the blisters. They might also ask about other symptoms you are experiencing, including flu-like symptoms and early signs, like tingling or burning.
Your doctor would likely request a culture to confirm diagnosis. A culture involves swabbing fluid from the site and sending it to the laboratory for testing.
If you believe you have been exposed to HSV but are experiencing no symptoms, a blood test is recommended to determine if you have HSV antibodies. Eventhough, blood tests may not detect HSV until 12 weeks after you have acquired the infection.
Note that general STI screenings [4] don’t include testing for HSV, so you’ll have to ask your doctor about getting tested for HSV specifically if you suspect you could have the virus.
You can also test for HSV antibodies with an at-home testing kit. Compare at-home herpes tests.