Blood test says HSV-1 positive but I have never had a sore

› Forums › Genital herpes › Blood test says HSV-1 positive but I have never had a sore

  • Post
    • July 21, 2026 at 5:08 pm
    quietkettle
    Participant

    Had a full panel done because a new partner asked, and HSV-1 came back positive. I have never had a cold sore or anything genital that I know of. I feel like I have been handed a label for something I have no experience of.

    What am I supposed to do with this?

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Member experience, not medical advice. Symptoms overlap between infections and only a test can tell them apart.
  • Replies
    • July 22, 2026 at 2:08 pm
    tinbird
    Participant

    HSV-1 antibodies are extremely common in the general population and most people who have them picked it up in childhood as an oral infection, often without ever getting a visible sore. A positive antibody test tells you your body has met the virus at some point. It doesn’t tell you where, and it doesn’t tell you when.

    This is why a lot of clinics don’t include herpes in a standard screen unless you have symptoms. The result frequently raises more questions than it answers, which is exactly where you are now.

    • July 24, 2026 at 1:08 pm
    northwindow
    Participant

    Worth taking the result back to whoever ordered it and asking what they think it means in your specific case. Ordered without symptoms it’s a different conversation from a swab taken from an actual lesion, which is the test that tells you something concrete.

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