Doctor Questions Herpes

Is it herpes or shingles?

Hello, at the end of January I started noticing little bumps on my upper thigh by my genitals. My last sexual exposure was end of December. The bumps turned into little blisters, I got a fever, lost my appetite, got itchy in my groin area and felt the tingle from the nerve. After when the blisters healed, I went to three different doctors and showed them what was left along with pictures, all three thought it was shingles. My family doctor is on the fence, it could be herpes or shingles. I was too late to get a swab test. Please give me your opinion

Male | 31 years old
Complaint duration: january 30, 2019

3 Answers

DoctorHerpes
Dear Sir, there is a blood test that will tell you very clearly if it is herpes. It is an antibody test for herpes type 1 which is the cold sore kind or type 2 which is the genital kind. If the type 2 is positive, then it was most probably the gential herpes. Hope that helps.
Thank you for sharing the details. Based on your description, heres a medical analysis of your symptoms to help distinguish between herpes simplex virus HSV and shingles herpes zoster Lesions appeared 4 weeks after last sexual contact compatible with primary herpes Blisters on upper thigh near genitals both HSV and shingles possible Tingling, fever, loss of appetite, and nerve symptoms occurs in both Three doctors said it looked like shingles but even experienced physicians may confuse them Too late for swab thats the only way to definitively tell during active lesions Herpes HSV-2 is more likely than shingles based on: Location near genitals Timeline post-sexual exposure Your age shingles at 31 is less common unless stress/immunocompromised Tingling and grouped blisters are more characteristic of HSV But only a swab test during active lesions or IgG/IgM testing can confirm it now
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Your family physician can always run a blood test to see if you were even exposed to herpes in your lifetime. It may not give you answers as a very large portion of the population has herpes in their blood stream whether they realize it/have had symptoms or not.