It is also possible that your partner does have herpes and had a false negative test. Herpes blood tests can be negative even though someone is actually infected.

Can you have herpes and your partner not?

For example, as long as you dont have herpes sores on your mouth, you can perform oral sex on your partner, including when you have an outbreak of genital symptoms. But your partner can be infected with herpes even when you dont have symptoms or sores.

Can you test positive for herpes and then test negative?

This generally means that youve never contracted an HSV infection. However, its possible for your results to come back negative even if youve contracted the infection within the past few months.

What can mimic herpes?

Noninfectious conditions that can mimic genital herpes include Reiter syndrome, contact dermatitis, Crohn disease, Behçet syndrome, trauma, erythema multiforme, and lichen planus.

When is herpes most contagious?

While an outbreak isnt necessary for herpes transmission, herpes is most contagious about 3 days before an outbreak; this usually coincides with an itching or burning sensation or pain in the area where the outbreak will occur.

Can a woman transmit herpes to a man?

In general, women have a higher risk of becoming infected than men. Having other sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV also increases the risk of transmission. In studies with couples where one partner had genital herpes, the other partner became infected within one year in 5 to 10% of the couples.

Can herpes be detected in urine?

Tests for HSV are most often done only for sores in the genital area. The test may also be done using other types of samples, such as spinal fluid, blood, urine, or tears. To see whether sores are caused by HSV, different types of tests may be done.