If you have a sore then the doctor can take a scraping of the sore and look for HSV virus. The cell scraping is cultured and allowed to multiply. It can then be viewed under the microscope for easy detection of the virus. This is a non-invasive technique.

In this test, a solution of the Herpes Simplex Virus antibody and a florescent dye is added to the sample. If the sample contains the HSV strain then the HSV antibody will stick to it and emit florescence when viewed under a special microscope.

In this test, a sample from the sore is taken on a slide. It is stained with a dye and observed under a microscope.The cells infected with HSV will appear different from the ones that are not infected. This is a non-invasive test.

A sample of your blood is tested for the presence of antibodies for herpes. A blood test detects HSV antibodies even when there are no symptoms of genital herpes. Since it takes several weeks for the HSV antibodies to show up in the blood, a recent infection may give a false-negative test for herpes. This test is of limited use as it cannot tell when the exposure to the virus occurred. This is an invasive test technique.

The diagnosis of herpes is done by conducting a IgG/IgM blood test. It utilizes a simple technique called enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) which is a immunoglobulin test. If the test shows IgM positive then the infection is active. But if IgM is negative and IgG is positive then it means that the body has developed enough antibodies to put the virus into remission. This test can only show an active infection or residual antibodies from a previous infection. This is an invasive technique.

A sample of the sore tissue or blood can be taken for PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). A small amount of the DNA is magnified into a long chain and the DNA is compared with the known sample strands of the virus. It is a conclusive test to prove whether or not the virus is present in the sore tissues or blood. The type of virus can also be determined by this test.

This is the most conclusive test for diagnosis of genital herpes. It is an invasive technique and involves extraction of spinal fluid for conduction of PCR DNA test. This technique has an edge over the other routine tests because the herpes virus cannot be detected in the blood in its latent stage. The PCR test done from the spinal fluid can detect the DNA of viral particles to an extremely high degree of accuracy. The presence or absence of the viral DNA of either types can be revealed by this test. If the PCR test is negative then it means that no viral DNA was detected and, hence, no virus is present and there is no infection. This is a very reliable test and if your physician has the resources to conduct a PCR DNA test from the spinal fluid then do ask him for it.