Can cold sores be caused by any other virus?

[MamaBearTeacher]

Are all cold sores caused by the Herpes virus?  I am talking about cold sores that are on the outside of the lips, rather than canker sores on the inside of the mouth.  My son had a cold sore and we did a blood test to test him.  It came out negative for the virus, so the doctor thinks it is caused by another virus.  Can it be?  What other virus can cause it?  

 

It has been several months and that sore is still pretty much there.  He got two new ones this week but they seem to be going away.  We did the test before a 3-month period and I am seeing on the Internet that there can be a false negative if the test is done before 3 months of the first symptom.  I want to test again.  

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Go ahead and test again but yes I do think there are other viruses that can cause this.  I seem to remember reading that somewhere.

[MamaBearTeacher]

Go ahead and test again but yes I do think there are other viruses that can cause this.  I seem to remember reading that somewhere.

 

Does anyone know which ones?  Are they the kind of viruses that can cause fatigue or stay in the system a long time and cause problems?  Are they "for life" like the Herpes virus or more like a cold virus that goes away?  My son has a lot of problems in his body so I need to take care of him.

[Mergath]

I'm not finding much else that can cause them other than HSV-1 and HSV-2. There might be other conditions that can cause sores around the mouth, but they wouldn't be cold sores, if that makes sense. One website said that oral HPV can cause sores around the mouth, so you could look into that, but I think it's more likely that you just had a false negative on the test.

 

 

[Guest]

So I used to get cold sores so always assumed have 1.

 

Well I've had no less than six negative blood tests.

 

I didn't even register for years that I don't have hsv1 because I'd assumed I did since I was a little kid. But I asked my doctor last time and he was like yeah no. No way you had six+ false negatives.

 

However, I haven't had another sore since I got my auto immune problem under control. Which! Explains why no one I ever sucked face with, nor my kids, caught what I had. Derp. It wasn't catching.

[Ausmumof3]

Vitamin b deficiency can cause cracking in the corners of the lips that can almost resemble cold sores.

[abba12]

Vitamin b deficiency can cause cracking in the corners of the lips that can almost resemble cold sores.

 

I'll look into that

 

Bumping to see if there's any other responses. I've always had cold sores, or what I assume were cold sores. I recently contracted genital herpes from the hospital (whole other story....  :cursing: ) and it's come on quite aggressively, so I am on the anti-viral daily as a preventative. 

 

The anti-viral appears to be CAUSING a sore that resembles a cold sore on my lip. I took them for a month and had a near constant sore, stopped them for two weeks and it disappeared, begun them again and within two days the sore was back in the exact same place. It stayed for a few weeks, disappeared for a few days (while still on medication), and is now back for the past week, again in the same spot. At this point I guess it really can't be a cold sore, but I'm stumped on what it is. 

[Mrs Twain]

A cold sore shouldn't remain for three months.

 

Impetigo is extremely common in kids. It causes lesions around the mouth, and it is treated very easily with antibiotics. I have a feeling that may be it, though derm diagnoses are tough without a photo!