Herpeselcet HSV2 equivocal

[Slightly Elevated]

I went to a new gyno for a full std blood work. I don’t believe I have ever had a herpes blood test before, but her office does it regularly. She told me that I had “slightly elevated” antibody levels for hsv 2 and that I had the virus. She told me not to worry and that I could have had this for several years and may never get an outbreak. My gyno never have me any numbers. I was dissatisfied with her information and got my specific test results numbers from the lab. Hsv2 was 1.05 (equivocal) through the herpeselcet test. Hsv 1 was .23 (negative). After many sleepless nights and tons of internet research, I wonder what I should do now. Should I re test or consider this a negative result? I have never had any lesions or outbreaks but I am now freaked out anytime if feel anything below the belt. If you suggest a re test, should I have herpeselcet again or try for the coveted western blot? Im in NY and don’t know how to get the western blot I have heard it’s very difficult to get here. I haven’t slept in weeks since getting this result. What are next steps? I have not had sexual encounters with anyone since this result. My last sexual encounter was in July 2014 and my test was done September 30.

[Terri Warren]

If your last sexual encounter was in July, you have now waiting long enough to test again.
Yes, getting the western blot in NewYork is difficult. I have had patients who, while visiting another state, have had the western blot drawn and sent from there. I’m not honestly clear about how that works with the laws of New York.
How about if you try the herpeselect again and see what you get? That IS allowed in the state of New York, as you know.
Remember that you did NOT test positive, you feel into a rather unknown range, but it is not positive.

You have two more questions/posts to do, should you wish to.

Terri

[Slightly Elevated]

Ok, I am going to call my gyno and request a follow up test next week with herpeselect. Why is it so difficult to get the western blot in NY? I am very upset that my doctor did not give me the numbers or even read through the ranges with me. I feel like I have to educate her on something that I was able to simply read without any medical background. What causes some people to fall into this “unknown range”? I hope that it comes back negative. I will post an update when I get the results back.

[Terri Warren]

It is difficult, I believe, that the state of New York (and four other states) does not allow labs out of the state who are not regulated by the state to run tests on their citizens. University of Washington not exception in their eyes, I think. I would love to do a study of low positives from these five states who subsequently turn out to be negative by western blot. We don’t really know why some people in this low positive high negative equivocal range that are false positives have that going on. There could be some kind of cellular protein that is tripping the test artificially.

Terri

[Slightly Elevated]

Hi Terri, I was re tested by herpeselect. Here are the results for both tests:
Hsv1:
September 30 – 0.23 negative
November 25 – 0.26 negative

Hsv2
September 30 – 1.05 – equivocal
November 25 – 0.69 negative

My last sexual encounter of any kind was in late July. I have never had any lesions or sores or other symptoms. Should I consider everything negative? I have eczema and very sensitive skin. and have spent the last 2 months freaking out about every single skin irritation I have ever had.

[Terri Warren]

Yes I believe that you can relax about your herpes antibody testing. I think it is likely that you have some protein within your own body, unrelated to herpes, that is causing the HSV 2 test to be a little more reactive than the typical negative but I don’t think it indicates that you should be worried about HSV 2. As it turns out, this is not that uncommon.

If you test again, this could happen again. Unless the numbers are really higher, I would not worry about it

Terri

[Author]

Posts