• 2021-04-14
    A 21-year-old female presents to the physician’s office with complaints of very painful vulvar ulcers. The patient states she has had the symptoms for approximately 3 days, and they are worsening. She says that prior to the ulcerations, there was a burning and tingling sensation of the skin in the same area. She has noted similar symptoms like this before and has been told it is sexually transmitted. On examination you see multiple extremely tender, vesicular (blister-like) lesions on an erythematous (red) base on both labia major of the vulva. She has a moderate amount of tender inguinal lymph nodes bilaterally. The physician uses a swab to sample the ulcer and send it off for diagnostic analysis. 1.What is the most likely diagnosis? 2.If the test is for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), what method would be used to amplify the fragments of DNA sampled?