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Equivocal result confusion

› Forums › Herpes Questions › Equivocal result confusion

  • This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 7 months ago by Terri Warren.
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    • October 29, 2020 at 9:52 am #71571
      jamminbammin
      Participant

      Hi Terri,

      I am a 22 year old male from the United States. I recently had unprotected sex with a new partner two times in the past month (bad idea). The first encounter was October 5th, 2020 (unprotected oral vaginal sex) and then again October 11th, 2020 (short penetrative <1min and received oral sex).

      Cue panic at my ignorance and on October 16th, I went to my provider to receive a full STD panel which came back:
      HSV 1 IGG: 39.80H Index (Known infection)
      HSV 2 IGG: 0.99 index (new)
      <0.9 NEG
      >0.9 <1.09 EQUIVOCAL
      >1.1 POSITIVE
      HSV 1 IGM SCREEN: NEGATIVE
      HSV 2 IGM SCREEN: NEGATIVE

      I freaked out because I didn’t get any value besides negative for HSV 2 IGG when I tested for it in 2019. I realized that the test is likely of little significance if a recent infection is assumed so I again retested on 10/28 (Not a full 4 weeks beyond first possible initial exposure) and received another equivocal result of 1.01.

      I realize that these tests require a person to build up antibodies to be considered accurate but I cannot wrap my head around why if my body has started producing antibodies to a new infection – why did my value increase only a marginal 2% in almost 2 weeks?

      I have experienced no outbreak or symptoms whatsoever. I contacted the partner and was told that she was clean per a screening performed a month prior (but did not include HSV1 & 2).

      I am in limbo at the moment, I’m not sure whether I am negative or positive though I will treat myself as positive until I can gain some understanding or confirmation on what my results mean.

      I am thinking of getting retested in a few weeks and see if that will give me some clarity on these results and if that doesn’t help then I will have to try a western blot possibly a month from then to ensure the test is accurate.

      My question to you is:
      Are either of these results indicative of possible exposure given the short timeline provided and when is a good time for me to be retested?

    • October 30, 2020 at 6:49 pm #71602
      Terri Warren
      Keymaster

      It just isn’t possible to know what these equivocal results mean at this time. It is possible that you are seroconverting but it’s also possible this is nothing. I think you should repeat the Igg test when 6 weeks, at least, have gone by.
      Is it possible to ask this partner to be tested?

      Terri

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