Diagnose primary or metastatic neoplasm; detect and type active HSV shedding.
Failure to obtain adequate ectocervical, endocervical, or vaginal cell population is suboptimal for evaluation. Excessive use of lubricating jelly on the vaginal speculum will interfere with cytologic examination and may lead to unsatisfactory Pap results. This test is intended for use as an aid in the diagnosis of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections with active viral shedding; it also differentiates HSV-1 from HSV-2. Negative HSV NAA results indicate lack of viral shedding but do not confirm absence of previous infection.