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I am a 37 year old male, who recently had been fighting a finger infection that Dr. and myself thought was Paronychia which started on 9/23. Dr. prescribed antibiotics. They did not seem to cure the finger.
Fast forward to 10/20 and the finger is basically healed. The other day I woke up (10/23) with a small blister on the same finger. Had the Dr. uncover it and had it cultured for Herpes. Test came back for HSV-2!!!! Currently taking 5 days of acyclovir.
I have never been diagnosed with genital herpes, nor had any genital herpes symptoms. I did start having full sexual relations (no anal) with my partner around the time the infection started. She never disclosed to me that she had a herpes infection. I am trying to figure out what I should be concerned with in regard to future partners. Should I be concerned that I also have genital region herpes or is my infection localized to my finger only? My Dr. stated that with my finger being so severe that to him it was a first exposure localized HSV2 Herpetic Whitlow. I have had zero symptoms in the genital region unlike on my finger which were severe (severe tenderness, tingling, numbness, drainage, scabbing, etc…). I am about 30 days post first sexual contact.
Just trying to find the clearest answer. Please advise. Thank you
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Hmmmm. Has your current partner been tested for HSV 2? Have you talked to her already about this? If she does test for HSV 2 and is not infected, then this has to be from finger contact with another sex partner. If she does test positive for HSV 2, did have also have genital to genital sex with her? If she tests positive and you did NOT have intercourse with her, then you may have new infection only on your hand. Did your doctor do any antibody testing for herpes for you at any point in all of this? If not, you cannot know for certain if this is a new infection or an old one if your partner tests positive for HSV 2. I know this is confusing, but do you follow me? . Intact fingers are not susceptible to herpetic whitlow, but if you have a break in the skin or have disruption around the nail, then the virus can get in if you are stimulating your partner sexually with your hand.
Statistics show that the vast majority of people who test antibody positive for HSV 2 will shed virus from the genital tract within a four month period. In your case, I would guess that you are infected genitally as well as digitally, but we can’t be certain. So with regards to future partners, if you never ever have a genital symptom (and that includes the entire area between waist and mid-thigh), it will not be possible to know if you are infected genitally as well. Very frustrating, I know.
If you answer my questions, perhaps I can help you sort this out a bit more.
Terri
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Oh, another thought. If the original problem was a paronychia, and that disrupted the tissue enough to let virus in, then this could be a true first finger infection, again, if your partner is positive. You could have an antibody IgG test now and see your antibody status. If this is indeed a true first infection , this most recent blister, then you would likely NOT have antibody yet.
TErri
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So we can’t know too much more about this until she gets tested. And even her testing negative for HSV 2 won’t tell you whether you also have this genitally. This situation is complicated and unless you do develop any genital symptoms, you aren’t going to ever be able to know for certain if you have it only on the hand or also genitally because you will, of course, be antibody positive. It would have been helpful to have an antibody test in this mix somewhere.
You can certainly make me aware of her test results when they come in and we can review all of this then.
Terri
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Good for you. If your first infection was 9/23, your antibody test could be high by now or it could be low. If it is high, you can’t know when you were infected for certain. If it is low, you could retest in a few month to see if it has risen a lot, possibly, possibly indicating new infection. If it is negative you will know it is first infection. Do you have your partner’s results back yet?
Terri
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Last answer: If I were you yes I would probably do suppression given that a huge percentage of those infected with HSV 2 have at least genital infection (in your case, also hand or maybe only hand but very hard to know) I would likely assume the worst.
Terri
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