False positive hsv 2?

[Worried_Young_Female]

Hi Terri,
Last month I went to the gynecologist to do a Pap smear. Without me knowing, she was running a full std/sti scan too. I thought she was doing a pregnancy test since I hadn’t had my period for about two months. When I got my test results, my Pap smear was low abnormal, so I had to do a colposcopy to check for cancer cells. Hsv 2 came back positive, which made me very shocked. 1. I never had any symptoms at all. 2. I’m not sexually active, only had a few sex partners, and didn’t have sex with them often. I only had unprotected sex with two of them, and as I mentioned – I didn’t have much sex with them either. 3. Last year in August I did a herpes test and it came back negative/normal. When I took this test I hadn’t had sex for almost a year (not even kissing). After I received my negative/normal test results I had sex one time only, and it was with the same guy I had sex with 1 year prior to the test. So I think he’s clean, but at the same time I started to think that during the year I didn’t see him, he had sex with someone who had herpes, and then he got herpes, and then he “infected” me with herpes. Do you think this is possible?

I didn’t get the index number but the test results said a confirmatory test should be run to confirm. I really think it’s a false positive, but my gynecologist said that 90% of the world’s population has herpes and no symptoms. She said we can do another blood test if I want, and I’m thinking of doing it. I already went to CityMd, and I’m waiting for my test results. At CityMd they said the blood tests can be both false positive and false negative, so I really think it’s a false positive.

What do you think Terri? Can you help me solve this out? Is there a chance I’m false positive?

[Worried_Young_Female]

Updates: the citymd hsv 2 came back as positive too, at 1.6. Do you think I got herpes from this guy and he’s asymptomatic? Or should I run another blood test? I read that 1.6 can be a false positive.

[Terri Warren]

1.6 can and likely is a false positive. You need a better confirmatory test like the western blot. Once a person trips the IgG test with a low positive, they very often continue to have low positives on subsequent tests. This does not help know whether you have HSV 2 or not. The western blot is your best answer.

Terri

[Worried_Young_Female]

Thank you so much for your answer! The Western Blot is a bit pricey, but I’m going to see if I can order it still. It will be worth it!

[Terri Warren]

I think that’s correct – this is a lifelong condition and you should know for sure if this is accurate or not. At your value, there is probably a 75% chance that this is a false positive

Terri

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