Just in case you missed the first installment in this series, let's review the key points:

• About 25% of American adults have genital herpes.
• Most of them don't know it.
• Herpes can be spread even when no symptoms are present.

As we also mentioned in part one, a majority of adults surveyed in two recent polls expressed minimal concern about whether they would become infected themselves. Perhaps this is understandable, in that there is no failsafe method for preventing the spread of genital herpes. Nonetheless, there are many individuals who would prefer not to get herpes or prefer not to spread herpes. So, what can they do?

Can you be tested?
A good place to start is to be certain whether one has herpes already or not.

If you've been diagnosed with herpes based on examination by a healthcare professional, you probably don't need a test, especially if the diagnosis was confirmed by a laboratory assay of some kind. But there are some people who receive a tentative diagnosis of genital herpes, and many of these individuals wonder over the following years if they truly have herpes or not, especially if they had no lab test or the lab result was negative.

What to do?
Traditionally, going to the healthcare provider and asking for a test wouldn't be very helpful unless you had an active and visible infection, marked by sores or blisters. In this situation, a medical professional normally would swab the sore for a culture test. With symptoms of recurrent herpes, however,  a culture test has a fairly high rate of false negatives. And it's truly not useful for a person who has no symptoms but merely a suspicion or curiosity.

What has been needed in these cases is a blood test that can accurately identify herpes at any time. 

Up until 1999, there was no such test on the commercial market. Now, however, there are several sophisticated new blood tests that can measure antibodies to herpes simplex virus whether symptoms are present or not. In truth, blood tests for herpes have been around for a while, but the conventional tests easily confuse herpes simplex type 1 (usually the cold sore kind) from herpes simplex type 2 (usually the genital kind). And since two-thirds of us are infected at some point with the cold sores or other manifestations of oral herpes, any test which confuses the two types of herpes isn't much use.

The advantages of 'type-specific' tests

The new tests are type-specific, and results can be very helpful in several kinds of situations. They can provide answers, for example, to the person with recurrent genital symptoms who thinks it might be herpes but isn't sure. Taken together with a history of unexplained genital symptoms or a suspicion of genital herpes, a blood test positive for type 2 herpes simplex (HSV-2) may be fairly conclusive evidence.

Such tests might also be helpful for couples in which one person has herpes and the other doesn't. If my new girlfriend, Geena, has HSV- 2, and my test shows I don't have it, the two of us should probably discuss which precautions, if any, we want to take. If, on the other hand, I already have type 2 herpes, I don't have to expend a lot of  energy worrying about getting it.

There are other situations in which these tests could provide clinical insights. Some public health experts have suggested that type-specific herpes tests be used often for high-risk populations such as those attending sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics. At the very least, the new herpes tests could be used for sexually active adults who seek testing for HIV and other STDs prior to the start of a new relationship.

Finding a test

For the moment, neither private care nor public health facilities have taken to widespread herpes screening, but these tests are available on request at many clinics. If you're interested in finding out your herpes status or your partner's, there are a couple of ways to pursue it.

Probably the easiest is to visit www.diagnology.com and learn about the POCkit HSV-2 Rapid Test. The POCkit test, done in your doctor's office, requires only a finger prick and gives results in less than 10 minutes. Diagnology has built a network of knowledgeable medical professionals around the U.S. who carry the test, and the company Web site will help you locate the one nearest you.

Other tests are available as well.  The most sophisticated and reliable among them use a syringe-drawn blood sample, which is sent to a laboratory for analysis. You can find out more about today's diagnostic options from the National Herpes Hotline (919-361-8488).

Experts concur that it's truly not necessary or wise for every adult to rush out and get a herpes blood test. But given the large number of Americans infected with herpes simplex, there are many situations in which knowing one's status can be helpful. Good news, then, that a new technology has arrived to give people this information when they need it.