False positive HSV2?

[Figuringitout]

For background context, I’ve always practiced safe sex and have always used a condom This dates back to 2018 when I got a routine std check up randomly which one of the tests was the HSV 1 and 2 IGg test. My values were HSV1- <0.01 and HSV2 – 1.24 H (1.1 and above were positive with my hospitals lab.) I was shocked because I’ve never had a symptom of hsv2 my entire life and felt fine. Did some research and heard about the western blot with the UofW so I did it some time in July 2018 and both hsv1 and 2 showed up as “Negative, no evidence of HSV infection” in 2019, I got a random hsv test again to see what the results were be out of curiosity and my HSV 2 was 0.86 (which is negative in terms of my hospitals lab). Now here’s where the issue is, fast forward to 2021 I get into a relationship and decided to get one final check and my HSV 2 result was 1.17 which is positive in their range. Thought nothing of it. Recently I’ve been having a lot of sex with my girlfriend and masturbating and developed a “friction burn” I feel like in my penis, it’s happened before I didn’t think anything of it or if it can even be related to HsV? Went to my doctor for testing thinking it was a UTI, the uti was negative and I decided to get the hsv test again. My IGG hsv 2 test now in 2022 is 4.27 compared to the one in 2021 that was 1.17. The friction burn I presume has subsided now and I feel better. But my question is, do I or do I not have hsv2? Why has the number made such a significant jump? I already received the western blot test back in 2018 which showed negative results so this jump in my Igg result is confusing me. Mind you, I’ve never had a sore, ulcer or anything of that nature. If you can please give me some insight about this ? Very hard to explain things to my girlfriend when stuff like this happens, thank you .

[Terri Warren]

Sorry for the delay in responding, I have COVID and have been quite ill

How many people have you had sex with since the negative western blot? Could you have been infected between 2022 and the negative blot? that’s a bit of a jump.

Terri

[Figuringitout]

About 2 but with protection. But either way it doesn’t make sense, I was technically “positive” on an Igg test and “negative when I took the western blot after that and by definition I am still “positive” on this Igg test just with a bigger number than before so if the western blot said I was negative before, how would it be any different now since the Igg has always shown me positive on all occasions besides once when it gave me a result of 0.86. I’ve never had a sore my entire life and it’s just frustrating when my physician and his PAs brush it off when I tell them about the western blot since they believe the Igg test so much

[Terri Warren]

Condoms reduce transmission from males to females by 96% and females to males by 65%. I don’t know your gender (though I am assuming male). If you’ve had two new partners since the negative blot, it is possible that you contracted HSV 2 from one of them, is it not? The bigger number is not insignificant. You may well be still negative but with a number greater than 4 now, we can’t be certain.

I think it would be helpful if you printed out both the CDC guidelines about herpes testing and information from the University of Washington about the western blot for your doctor’s. They are uninformed and need updating

Terri

[Figuringitout]

I am a male and do not think I could have gotten it from the 2 new people. Have you ever seen that before where the antibody numbers just went up like that for someone that was “positive” on IGG and negative on western blot? It’s just confusing and I am still clueless about all this even after asking the initial question. Why do IGG tests even show positive if western blot is out there and tells people that they are negative?

[Terri Warren]

It is possible that your most recent result is a false positive.
IgG tests can be falsely positive due to a non-specific protein. We don’t know what the protein is about. I would suggest that you do another western blot to be certain that you didn’t get HSV 2 from one of the two other partners.

Terri

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