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Hi Terri,
I had a video consultation with you a few weeks ago. I forgot to ask some questions.
What is the difference between the western blot and the standard IGG blood test? Do they both look for antibodies? Is the blot the gold standard because it looks for the herpes antigen? What makes the blot the gold standard?
Also, is hsv2 transmitted via sexual fluids? Or is it just skin-to-skin contact? I’ve been getting conflicting information in regards to this.
Thank you!
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The western blot looks for all 16 antibody proteins and four must be present to be called positive while the IgG test looks for a single antibody protein that is different between HSV 1 and HSV 2. You can see that the blot is way more thorough and the chance for a false positive is zero.
During sex, both things happen a bit – fluids and skin to skin contact. But the reason condoms are so effective at reducing transmission is that they prevent both. It’s a bit hard to separate completely
Terri
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That’s more difficult. If someone got exposed to the herpes virus, if they took high doses of antiviral medicine with say an hour, it MIGHT be useful in preventing life long infection but we honestly have no idea in humans.
Terri
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