Your Peace of Mind is Our Goal......Watch Dr. Arani, M.D. from California STD.com expert input on Fox News @ 10
Herpes II is the most responsible type of herpes for genital STD infection. Our test specificity has been compared to western blot technique, highly specific to minimize false positive result. If you have preliminary positive result by different lab then we could also confirm the accuracy of your result. No confusing Range number for interpretation of test, No indeterminate result unlike herpes elisa and select, with our test either you are POSITIVE or NEGATIVE in 10 minutes. We also able to provide oral herpes , anal herpes, pubic herpes test results in minutes please click on cold sore herpes test page
Warning Against Herpes IgM testing: IgM test is non reliable test for diagnosis of herpes, recently many online STD testing sales companies try to promote Herpes IgM testing and misinform patients Go To Detail information section
Our Herpes Test Accuracy:
Majority of herpes 2 test by different lab is by antibody detection by Elisa method such as select IgG. The problem we were facing was we had to interpret the result based on range of numbers for example below 0.9 negative, 0.9-1.1 indeterminate, and above 1.1 being positive. We used to get indeterminate and low positive and patient turned out to be sometimes negative and sometimes positive. This was confusing for our patients. They wanted to know if they are simply positive or negative. Finally on Feb. 2007 we decided to incorporate our current immunoassay testing system which has been compared to western blot (getting done in University of Washington) into our laboratory. Patient come to our clinic with one main question "do I have herpes 2 or not?" and they want "Yes" or "No" for answer. We give that answer with better confident in about 10 minutes now.
Herpes is a disease that must get evaluated by experience doctor. Just get tested through blood
as general rule does not provide conclusion for your concern. False negatives and false positives could be common,
the results have to be weighed together with the clinical presentation and patient's history; with the currently available
tests neither a negative nor a positive can ever be absolute. Your time of exposure, history, and clinical presentation will
assist us to choose the right test ( Tzank smear, WB, Elisa;recent or remote antibody, rapid assay, Type specific culture)
for you.
Comparison of Different Type of Herpes Test
(copyright protected 2011)
| |
Herpes immunoassay gG2 test |
Herpes IgG Elisa Test |
Herpes IgM |
Herpes Culture |
Herpes Skin Smear Test |
| Result time |
10 minutes |
2-6 days |
2-6 days |
10 days |
5-15 minutes |
| Specificity of the Test |
Very high |
high |
Low |
Very high |
high |
| Sensitivity of the Test |
High |
High |
non conclusive |
Low |
High ( depends on lab & quality of sample) |
| Window Period |
Seroconversion detection as short as
2 weeks |
~ 6 months |
limited |
at time of sore presentation |
No Window, Test could be done as soon as the lesion appears |
| Sampling |
Venopuncture, Finger prick
We have capability do test both in serum or blood |
venopuncture , serum |
venopuncture, serum |
swab, by touching the sore |
Swab, by touching the sore |
| False Positive Result |
Very low |
Higher than immunoassay |
High , misinterpretation |
Very low to none |
Low |
| Intermediate non-conclusive result (gray area) |
None |
Present |
|
None |
Present |
| Herpes type specific |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Availability of the service by our institution |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
What is Herpes? Herpes is a sexually transmitted disease which get transmitted by virus called HSV or
Herpes simplex Virus. There are 2 type of Herpes virus, type 1 and type 2
Herpes evaluation by examination ?
The most important part of herpes evaluation is experience doctor examination. We have diagnosed many patients with herpes with just physical examination and patients was treated on the same day without even testing ( great saving for non-insured patients).
is herpes just a Dermatological disease ? No, it is beyond that , It is a viral infection that will stay
with you for lifetime. The skin rash is just manifestation of this infection. You may not have any dermatological symptom to begin with. You could infect your other part of your body by contact ( for example you could get eye infection, Herpes conjunctivitis). You could develop secondary bacterial infection, or it might put you on higher risk of getting other STDs as well. We do not just consider dermatological aspect of herpes, we approach it
systemically we will answer all your questions.

Herpes Virus:
It is an enveloped virus with DNA with fragile membrane. The herpes virus with damage
envelope is not as infectious . It easily fall apart and virus could only be obtain by direct mucosa contact.
It means it is unlikely to get it with sharing dishes or going to public bathroom. Herpes virus invade human
body by direct mucosa/ skin contact. The Virus use host cell for reproduction and destroy the host cell, as
result the classic symptom of blister formation (if symptomatic) tingling and pain occur.
Herpes and condom risk in male: Although condom is must but it does not provide full protection against herpes. Penile base shaft and scrotum skin which do not get covered by rubber would make you expose to herpes sore.
Herpes and condom risk in female: Although condom is must but it does not provide full protection against herpes sores. When male sexual organ is fully penetrated you may get contacted with penile base and scrotum skin.
Can I have herpes and not knowing and infect others? Yes, you could and there are tests to find out about that. We always tell to our patients. If you have been infected with herpes and never develop any rash or complication then you just have a "quiet roommate" and as time passes by and you continue to be asymptomatic then maybe you are lucky, however, your "quite roommate" may not be that quite if travel from your body to your sexual partner and become his/her number one enemy with recurrent herpes outbreak and complications. Herpes could infect different part of the body and not just sexual organ following is the example of herpes on eyelid.
Herpes Symptom:
tingling around genital area , rash , swelling lymph node, vaginal/ penile discharge, burning upon urinating
Herpes Diagnosis: There are few different techniques that we use to come up with clear answer such as obtaining direct sample culture, antibody testing, DNA PCR western blot, screening and titer and most important of all experience physician examination with dermascopy. We frequently see patient with nonspecific test report from online lab vender without doctor evaluation or ordering the test with just adding to patient confusion. Patients are often emotional and we understand this well and would try our best to answer all the specific detail questions. We make sure you leave our clinic happy with clear answers and plan.
Is Herpes type-1 just infect oral area? Not necessarily, most of oral region herpes infection is HSV-1 but it does not mean it can not infect other part of the body. In other words, herpes type 1 commonly infect labial area but you could get herpes type 1 on your genital as well.
Could Herpes Type 1 become Type 2? No, Never. Herpes type 1 regardless of location will stay type 1 and type 2 will stay type 2.
Can I kill Herpes virus ? No, You can not. No mater what anybody claims. It will die when the host dies. In other words, it will stay with the patient as long as he / she is alive.
Oral Sex: You could receive or give herpes by giving or receiving oral sex. Herpes Type 1 is labial herpes but it could live on genital area or Type 2 is mostly genital but could infect oral. If you have type 1 herpes with recurrent cold sores and you perform oral sex on your partner then your partner could develop genital herpes with type 1. Interesting enough your partner could possibly transmit his/her new type 1 genital herpes back to you but this time you get it back on your genital !
How to find out your partner has herpes? Upon our experience , unfortunately, many people won't inform their new partner about their herpes status till after getting intimate.
They simply afraid of rejection despite herpes is being very common. The best way is to ask your partner open ended questions prior to sex, such as : "I have heard Herpes is very common , what do you think about it ? then she or he may start the conversation easier then you will find out. Do not ask directly such as " Do you have herpes ?" Always be gentle and start slow on STD conversation then you could ask harder questions.
Psychological aspect of herpes: Newly diagnosed herpes patient may feel depress, anxious, guilty, they think they are the only one in the world they have herpes, we assure you that you are not. It is unlikely people walk around and tell to their friend, classmate, relative, co-worker that they have herpes. It is unspoken and in this way you feel lonely , about 20% of American have herpes. It is this psychological pressure which fuel the recurrent outbreak of herpes.
Is Herpes could infect other part of the human body: Yes, for example, If your partner has genital herpes and sit on your abdomen , you may get herpes on the contact area. We had similar patient with herpes on umbilical area.
Anal Herpes: You could also get herpes on anus, unprotected anal sex could contribute to this infection.
Digit Herpetic Sores: Herpes could appears as out break on fingers. Touching herpes rash could lead to this type of infection.
Herpes and HIV? Herpes infection fuel the spread of HIV. so herpes infected individuals are at higher risk to get infected with HIV. If you have herpes sore then your immune system would try to heal the sore. HIV will easily infect those immune cells so if vaginal fluid, oral fluid , blood, semen comes in contact with herpes sores then it could infect the patient with HIV. Aids patient may gets aggressive herpes out break as well. Herpes Case Scenario ( we have seen many similar patients in our clinic )
Mary and John are happily married for 7 years and he or she noticed herpes like rash on his/her genitalia. These are possible questions and concern:
1)Is it really Herpes ?
2)Is he / she been promiscuous ? why herpes now after 7 years of marriage ?
3)Is there possibility that other partner develops herpes in future?
4)Could get tested to find out that one partner has positive asymptomatic herpes infection?
5)Is this old or new infection ? is there any test that could say it is old or new infection ?
6) could this herpes is as result of transmission of mouth cold sore ? If yes ? then could get tested
to find out about mouth herpes ? or mouth type of herpes on genitalia ?
---------News---------
Many people with HIV are also infected with the herpes type 2 virus
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/22/herpes_drug_helps_control_aids
Herpes Treatment: We will take many elements into our consideration before initiating treatment. We have helped thousands of herpes patients in past and we follow many of them with one simple goal: No more outbreak. We assure our patients that we do not treat them based on pharmaceutical company advertising promotions for FDA approved or non approved medicines. Unfortunately there are various pharmaceutical companies try to advertise their product and some are not as effective as described and some are Non-FDA approved. Due to our clinical experience first episode of herpes is the most important one for long-term treatment and suppression. We treat many herpes patients and our considerable experience will be invaluable to you. Remember not all herpes infected patients are same for treatment plan. According to Dr. Arani three main element needs to be consider in herpes positive patient as follow:
1) Short term Goal : At this level the main goal is to treat the patient and relieve patient discomfort and pain. The earlier the treatment started the faster is the recovery. At this stage clinician must treat the outbreak. Certain advance outbreak accompanied with a lot of pain, Pain control should be consider as well. The pain management of herpes my not be as easy. Conventional pain killer may have limited or little effect. Usually female patients may have more discomfort than male for 2 reasons:
Pain Upon Urination Passing urine through female genital anatomy will place the ulcers or herpetic open sore in contact with urine. Urine is salty generally slightly less than salt water. The salt contact with this sore my contribute to excruciation pain. Patient assume that she may have "urinary tract infection" because of the pain. Urinary analgesic such as Phenazopyridine Hydrochloride has limited to no effect.
Touch Sensitivity: The location of herpetic sore is very important. Obviously scrotum is very sensitive and it is in close rubbing contact with penile and medial leg. In contrast, pubic area has minimal to no contact.This contact create more pain for the patient. Pain management should be address on contact pain.
Direct pain ("organic pain") This pain come from the herpes sore itself. Because of herpes virus lives in nerve then the pain associated with herpes might be more sever than other similar non-herpetic sore. The conventional pain killer might more helpfull for this type of the pain.
2) Long term Goal: The mind will forget the diagnosis of herpes if there is no further outbreak, that is human. Forgetting the pain is the most blessing element in human brain structure/evolution. Imagine if you remember all bad news, all bad memory and all devastating trauma in your life as fresh as they have happened to you. You would never be able to get out of the bed and survive and live a normal life. The forgetfulness is blessing in those situations. The grief of having herpes may resurface every time you get an outbreak. You need to forget about this disease. In order to reach this goal you need to be herpes sore free. We address all this issue in details if we diagnosed you with herpes.
3) Psychosocial and Relationship aspect: In book of herpes there is nothing more important than a physician(MD) clearly understand and know all the detail aspect of the psychological aspect of herpes positive patient. Patient has to live with a virus for remaining of his/her life. Clinician must put her/his feet in patient shoes when discussing the news or treating the herpes patient. In many instances of breaking the news, patient is so much emotionally overwhelmed that I had to gave moment of silent and approach the patient from different aspect. There are more than 6.5 billion people in the world while we can not find 2 people with 100% exact similar. We are made of our DNA, memories and experience and it is impossible to find all these 3 elements common between two unique people. I have had patient whom is only concern was to protect his partner while another patient who care less about anyone else and I had to spend tremendous amount of time to educate him about how important it is to protect his partner. Patient has many questions concern that all need to be answered.They want to know what is like to be in society as herpes positive. Could they become mother and father with healthy children ? If they have an outbreak could they share same pool/ Jacuzzi with others such as their kids and many more similar questions.
We know herpes virus lives in the nerve, so the stress and the thought of the herpes may contribute to frequent outbreak. We answer all your questions in details in your visit and we make sure that you leave with clear mind.
TEL 323-231-6000 or 818-897-8000
2. IgM tests cannot accurately distinguish between HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibodies, and thus very easily provide a false positive result for HSV-2. Most adult population in the U.S. already has antibodies to
HSV-1, the primary cause of oral herpes. A person who only has HSV-1 antibody all his/her life may get false belief of got infected with HSV-2 as IgM might become positive.
3. IgM tests may cross-react with other viruses in the same family, such as varicella zoster virus (VZV) which causes chickenpox or cytomegalovirus (CMV) which causes mono, meaning that positive results may be misleading.
4. IgM has short life so there is small window period that appears and disappear , so person could have been infected with herpes and get negative IgM .
In conclusion, we do not recommend to use Herpes IGM for any diagnosis of types specific herpes
"It was
amazing that they tested
me for both HIV 1 and HIV
2 without needle with negative
result in few minutes. "
Pacoima, California