When looking through the days news over the past week, I found a story about Std screening wherein a doctor made statements indicating that it's nearly useless to check for herpes. As per Dr. Bradley Stoner of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, professional medical testing for hsv virus is so inaccurate (producing false negative diagnoses at a rate greatly exceeding lab tests for any other sexually-transmitted diseases) that it is nearly worthless except when you're already experiencing recurrent episodes of blisters and lesions. In such cases, the screening would be conducted only to make sure that one has HSV-2 and not something else. Stoner finished his statement by saying, "Other than that, I probably would not screen for herpes - the waters are just too murky."
This particular statement was really unexpected considering that almost all case studies show the blood test for herpes to be nearly 90% reliable at identifying infections. Stoner's statements became still more confusing once I stopped by the homepage of the ASHA (American Social Health Association) - the exact agency for which Stoner serves as a spokesperson. According to the ASHA, you can find a handful of FDA-endorsed blood tests that are demonstrated to be particularly successful at identifying the herpes virus in subjects.
Is There a Disagreement About Whether to Test for Herpes?
In light of the contradictory claims from Stoner's very own organization, along with the lack of support for his stance from any other sources, it would seem that the doctor is in the minority in his viewpoint that no available test for herpes is effective enough to be worth using. However, his claim would have been entirely in line with opinions expressed by several other researchers if he said that, aside from those few FDA-recognized blood tests which check for glycoprotein, or gG, none of the other herpes tests are dependable enough to be utilized for diagnosis.
The Takeaway - Is it Beneficial to Test for Herpes?
Though herpes tests are notoriously difficult to rely on, with the majority delivering an unacceptably high number of false-negative results, there is nevertheless a sturdier case to be made for being examined than there is for electing not to do it. Even with less-accurate tests such as culture swabs and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests unable to correctly diagnose the virus in up to 30% of cases, they still supply the opportunity for millions of herpes-infected people to get themselves on the path to treatment.
This particular statement was really unexpected considering that almost all case studies show the blood test for herpes to be nearly 90% reliable at identifying infections. Stoner's statements became still more confusing once I stopped by the homepage of the ASHA (American Social Health Association) - the exact agency for which Stoner serves as a spokesperson. According to the ASHA, you can find a handful of FDA-endorsed blood tests that are demonstrated to be particularly successful at identifying the herpes virus in subjects.
Is There a Disagreement About Whether to Test for Herpes?
In light of the contradictory claims from Stoner's very own organization, along with the lack of support for his stance from any other sources, it would seem that the doctor is in the minority in his viewpoint that no available test for herpes is effective enough to be worth using. However, his claim would have been entirely in line with opinions expressed by several other researchers if he said that, aside from those few FDA-recognized blood tests which check for glycoprotein, or gG, none of the other herpes tests are dependable enough to be utilized for diagnosis.
The Takeaway - Is it Beneficial to Test for Herpes?
Though herpes tests are notoriously difficult to rely on, with the majority delivering an unacceptably high number of false-negative results, there is nevertheless a sturdier case to be made for being examined than there is for electing not to do it. Even with less-accurate tests such as culture swabs and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests unable to correctly diagnose the virus in up to 30% of cases, they still supply the opportunity for millions of herpes-infected people to get themselves on the path to treatment.
About the Author:
Interested in finding out more about ways to test for herpes?, then visit Devin Brindinshire's site and learn about all of the available forms of screening, as well as how to answer the question what do herpes look like.