What is the false positive rate of the tzanck smear test used for diagnosing genital herpes?

Very unreliable test: The Tzanck is an old test for herpes, rarely used in recent years. It has a very high false negative rate and does not distinguish HSV1 from HSV2, crucial to proper diagnosis and treatment. False positives are less common but not rare. Test reliability depends heavily on the experience of the person doing the test. Talk with your doctor/clinic about proper testing, i.e. DNA (PCR) or culture.

None: It is not done much because it is time-consuming. Unless done by an experienced person, it is not reliable. Many years ago it was used to distinguish herpes group (herpes, chicken pox, shingles) from other blistering diseases, especially small pox. Nobody wants to spend an hour doing this today. We make a clinical diagnosis, usually correct, and get cultures + blood tests. We can diagnose type 1 o