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There is no general test that covers every
single STI. When a student is getting a pap smear done by a
clinician at Health Services, she can request to be tested for
specific STI's that she may be concerned about. Chlamydia is
the most common STI done at Health Services.
Herpes is caused by one of two viruses:
herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1) which is most often associated
with oral lesions, and herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-2) the
leading cause of genital ulcer disease. Herpes can usually be
diagnosed by a clinician as she examines any visible sores.
Testing can, however, be done through a
viral tissue culture that uses living cells to grow the virus
(a sample taken from the gential ulcer). The viral culture
test is the only test that can reliably distinguish between
the two types of herpes.
There is a blood test for HSV, but it is
not used to distinguish between the viruses. This test has
limited usefulness since it often tests positive (even without
an HSV outbreak) because many people have been exposed to and
developed HSV antibodies at some point in their lifetime.
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