I have had symptoms of what I thought was herpes for over a year now. Over the holidays I went to a women's clinic and upon looking at one of the little bumps on the outer lip of my vagina, the Dr. says I have molloscum contagiosum. She scraped it and sent it to the lab just to make sure it wasn't herpes...turns out it wasn't. If I don't have herpes, why do I experience tingling on the surface of my skin? I still remember the symptoms I had when this all started happening to me....I felt sick for a couple of days...had pain in my groin area...had a very painful fissure in my butt...itching, burning for 2 weeks. To me, that all sounds like a herpes primary outbreak, although I've never had lesions...typical herpes sores. Can anyone offer any opinions? I'm thinking that I have both H and molluscum. I'm always worried about passing something on to someone else, but I don't even know for sure what I have. Help! :confused:

You had a swab test for herpes. These are usually only effective if performed within a couple of days of a sore appearing. It is also sometimes difficult to get a good sample, depending on the herpes outbreak.

To determine whether you have herpes, you could get a type-specific blood test. Most people will test positive for HSV1 (which causes cold sores and a minority of cases of genital herpes). If you test positive for HSV2 you can be pretty much sure that you have genital herpes. If positive for HSV1, it could be HSV1 on the mouth or genitals.

I had a blood test done for herpes a couple of months after symptoms started and it was negative. I was also told that herpes blood tests are never accurate because, like you said, most of us have been exposed to it at some point in our lives. Perhaps having a more specific test might determine what type it is.