
Originally Posted by
thegodfather
you have a serious misunderstanding of how the herpes simplex virus works in the body. It is not "in the blood." the blood test used to detect hsv does not actually detect the virus itself, but it detects the antibodies that the body produces as an immune response to the virus. The virus itself is spread by skin to skin contact, and it rests at the base of a nerve at the spinal cord. Usually, if a person is infected with hsv-2 (gential herpes) the virus will rest at the sacral nerve. When an outbreak occurs, the virus travels down the nerve and manifests itself as an open sore on the skin in that general area.
If she tests positive for the virus, then she should have an area where she exhibits outbreaks in the form of skin lesions somewhere on her body. The designations hsv-1 and hsv-2, simply mean "above the waist" and "below the waist." a herpes outbreak can occur on any part of the body, but most often occurs on membranous skin. And remember, it must be spread by skin-to-skin contact, which is why the genitals and the mouth are the most often infected areas.