HSV 1 or HSV 2?

[Soconfused123]

I contracted HSV 1 in 1987 from shared makeup.
Never spread my HSV 1 to anyone. Married 15 years, 4 children, past boyfriends/sexual partners never passed it. 2020 in a relationship,told him I was HSV 1 positive. With him for 7 months and never passed HSV 1 to him.
No sex after that relationship until 6/6/21, I had genital (no oral) with someone (1x), 6/11/21 sores on my vagina.Doctor on 6/17/21;said it was possible herpes but looked like HSV 1 because it didn’t look bad for 1st ob, should get tested to be sure. Antibody blood test 6/17/21:hsv 1 positive 40.20, hsv 2 negative <0.90.Doctor said test again, too soon to detect.Possible outbreaks: 7/21, 8/21, 11/21.Test #2 1/6/22: hsv 1 positive 36.80, hsv 2 negative <0.90. Possible outbreak 2/22, tested during “outbreak” 2/23/22: hsv 1 positive 37.70, hsv 2 negative <0.90. 8/22, yearly with OBGYN test results plus no ob for 6 months. She said I was “one in a million” and was probably exposed to the virus w/ a light ob but didn’t receive enough of the virus to produce antibodies so I didn’t “have herpes” but should still disclose to any sexual partner, just in case I did have a lingering outbreak.
9/26/22 genital sex + oral him to me with the guy I mentioned above that I had a relationship with in 2020. Three days later, I wound up with a minor “outbreak”, 1st in 7 mos. 12ish days later, he got sores in his mouth and penis. His antibody blood test 10/20/22: hsv 1 positive 5.15, hsv 2 positive 4.82. He claims only one partner between our relationship (2020 and 2022). Neither one of them had an STD panel test done before having sex with each other. He says he is immune compromised (no idea of his diagnosis) and never had any sores like this before.
1 Is it possible to have been exposed, w/ light ob and not have anitbodies, meaning I do NOT have herpes genitally?
2 Could I have gotten re-infected with hsv 1 genitally if I had hsv 1 orally?
3 Could I have hsv 2 even after 3 negative tests?
4 do my hsv1 values mean anything

[Terri Warren]

1 Is it possible to have been exposed, w/ light ob and not have anitbodies, meaning I do NOT have herpes genitally?
That doesn’t make an ounce of sense. You either have it or you don’t. The IgG test misses 8% of HSV 2 compared to the western blot, however. What is shocking to me is that no one appears to have done swab tests of your lesions. Could that possibly be correct?

2 Could I have gotten re-infected with hsv 1 genitally if I had hsv 1 orally?
That would be highly unlikely

3 Could I have hsv 2 even after 3 negative tests?
Well, possibly, yes

4 do my hsv1 values mean anything
Only that you have a well established infection.

HSV 1 and HSV 2 look identical.

Terri

[Soconfused123]

Thank you Terri! Thinking I’m having an ob now so going to dr tomorrow to hopefully have enough fluid to be swabbed.

Also I’ve never taken any suppressant meds.

Regarding my outbreaks (6/21, 7/21, 8/21, 11/21, 2/22, 9/22, 11/22) so far, would you say this is acting more like HSV 1 or HSV 2?

Could the igg test have missed hsv 2, 3x??

Could I still be shedding my oral HSV 1 after all these years (35 years)?? I’ve never passed it along to anyone??

Is it possible for someone who is ‘immune compromised’ to have hsv dormant in their system for any amount of time? (I’m trying to understand his test results of positive for both HSV 1 & 2)

Thank you so much for this forum. It helps talking to someone who knows her stuff!!

[Terri Warren]

How did the doctor visit turn out?
This sounds far more like HSV 2 than HSV 1. Genitally.
It is likely that you are still shedding some HSV 1 even after all these years.
You need a herpes western blot
And you need to be swab tested when you have what you think are HSV outbreaks.

Terri

[Soconfused123]

Hi Terri, so my swab test turned out to be positive for HSV 2. (UGH!!)
What’s strange to me is that my doctor also did another IGG blood test & my results were HSV 2 0.96 (still not a strong positive, rather an equivocal result?? My HSV 1 index is still high 36.40). Do you have any idea why my index could be so low for HSV 2 after a year & a half??
I’m just so confused that if I actually got it in June of 2021 why did it not show up for 3 tests & this fourth test, my index is so low!? Could I have gotten it from this last guy I had sex with in late September?? Or is it still likely that I did get it in 2021?? I for sure had a fever in 2021 with what I believe was my first outbreak…

I broke up with this last guy about a week before he got his results for just being a jerk. He then texted his results & blocked me saying I turned his life upside down, (however he & his friends say he was in love with me since we met in 2020… gosh this sound so juvenile!!). I’m seriously wondering if he had it (possibly dormant) & wants to blame me for it or use it to insinuate I’m a bad person (because I broke up with him)? I know I’m probably getting way too deep for this forum but I guess I’m just trying to get answers to questions, I’ll probably never get answers to… 🙁

[Terri Warren]

Are you certain that the outbreaks you had in 2021 were HSV? Were they ever swab tested? Were they just like the ones you had recently? If they are all about the same, then it is likely you’ve been infected longer than sept. You could also retest in December and see what the IgG test shows. If it is a lot higher, then maybe you did get it in September. Let me know

Terri

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