false positives w low index + prev. WB test

[allamerican1017]

hello!

I am glad to have found this forum, and you, because most professionals are not up to date on their hsv information and are steadily putting people’s lives and mental health in a bad position.

In 2021, i had std testing done to which the provider told me i had hsv2. i could not believe this information bc i had never had an outbreak or known any of my past or current partner to have been infected. i did extensive research daily, and found that low index levels could be a result of a false positive test. it was an iGG test and my index level was 1.49. i then discovered the western blot test to which i got done, preformed by University of Washington, and the results were negative. i thought this would be put behind me until recently.

i found out that a former sexual partner of mine had hsv1 in the genital region to which was never disclosed to me. they told me they took their antiviral medication daily so i would be ok. i believed this bc i still have never had an outbreak or any sign of hsv.

i recently got tested this month april 2023 and did a full panel (which i usually don’t do bc of these faulty herpes tests). everything was negative except my results for hsv2 came back positive again with a low index as well (i do not have the exact number or know whether iGG just yet but the index was 1. something). i told the provider i was unsure if that was accurate just bc of my previous situation and that i’ve already had the gold standard testing done before.

the provider also said that my white blood cell count was abnormal but i was recently treated for a uti so maybe that has triggered the count?

do i need to do the western blot again? are false positive tests going to continuously happen to me? my hsv1 test was negative so should i be worried about possible transmission in any way from my former partner? i am really not sure what to do at this point. is it in my best interest to just stay away from hsv testing if no symptoms are present? pls help. thx

[allamerican1017]

also, are false positives likely to happen more than once?

[Terri Warren]

In my experience, people who get a false positive IgG result, as determined by western blood, they go on to get repeated false positive IgG test. Whatever is tripping the IgG test in your body will continue to do so most of the time, in my experience.

HSV one genital infection is very rarely transmitted via intercourse. This is especially true if no symptoms are present. Of all the things to worry about, I don’t think I would spend a moment worrying about this one since you have no symptoms and are still negative for HSV one.

If you are unsuccessful in putting this behind you, there’s no reason not to do another Western blood
Terri

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by Terri Warren.

[allamerican1017]

Thank you for your expertise and advice Terri. I am able to put this behind me now, especially after finding out through more blood work that I have some sort of auto immune disease. That may explain the false positive tests. Thanks again, people like you are saving so many lives.

[Terri Warren]

I’m Glad that you were going to try to put this behind you and move on. I don’t know about saving lives but I have been able to tell some people that they don’t have herpes one other tests besides the western blood have told them that they do.

Terri

[Author]

Posts