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HSV Doubt

› Forums › Herpes Questions › HSV Doubt

  • This topic has 8 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 12 months ago by Terri Warren.
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    • November 29, 2021 at 11:59 am #75655
      scareddude
      Spectator

      Hi Terri,

      I am a 34-year-old male who lives in the bay area, California. I broke up with my Ex-girlfriend around 7 years back. I never had unprotected sex with her. I got into another relationship around 4 years back and we are expecting a baby now. She has no symptoms. I cannot ask her to test now as well. I never had sex with anyone else. Around 4 months back, I went to a salon and followed by a haircut I had a body massage. The lady didn’t touch my penes or rectum. However, for around 1 minute she massaged in between my scrotum and rectum. I started getting intermittent (3-5 times in a month) itching and hives from last 3 months. My doctor suspects it is some allergy and suggested taking Cetirizine. Out of curiosity, I spend many days googling around and reading about it and noted that Herpes can be a reason for hives. I did a full panel STD check and the result came back negative for everything except, HSV1 and HSV2. I did the test with Labcorp.

      HSV1 – 1.12
      HSV2 – 1.17
      The HSV2 supplementary test is also positive.
      I did one IGM test as well with Quest and that came negative.

      Is it possible that I got this from the massage? or I had it before as well. I never had any other symptoms. If I have to go with a western blot, is there a lab that can help draw the blood and send it across? Please advice.

    • November 29, 2021 at 12:03 pm #75659
      scareddude
      Spectator

      >> I started getting intermittent (3-5 times in a month) itching and hives for the last 3 months.

      Just to clarify, this was almost all over the body, like hands, thighs, legs etc.

      Also, I never had any full panel STD tests before this.

    • November 29, 2021 at 12:10 pm #75662
      Terri Warren
      Keymaster

      The massage did not cause herpes.
      Your positive is an extremely low positive for both HSV 1 and 2. Yes, you need the blot.
      DO NOT believe the supplemental test from LabCorp. I have so many patients with negative western blots who have positive supplemental tests from LabCorp. I can help you find a lab in the bay area to have your blood drawn. I think it is highly likely that one or both of these results are false positives.

      Terri

    • November 30, 2021 at 11:15 am #75680
      scareddude
      Spectator

      Thanks, Terri. I will schedule for the blot. In general, have you observed normal body hives associated with HSV1/2? I started thinking about it as the itching started a couple of weeks after the salon visit and massage.

    • November 30, 2021 at 12:20 pm #75681
      scareddude
      Spectator

      Just to add, the hives that I get mostly vanish in 5-6 hours. Is it possible that the lady who massaged me had a whitlow in her hand and possibly I got it from there? Or I am overthinking? How long after the possible exposure one can go for blot? Please advise.

    • November 30, 2021 at 1:59 pm #75682
      scareddude
      Spectator

      Also, is there a chance that old chickenpox infection can also cause antibodies that will look like HSV-1/2 antibodies that the test may probably detect? TIA.

    • December 5, 2021 at 12:13 pm #75727
      Terri Warren
      Keymaster

      No, I don’t see hives with HSV 1 or HSV 2.
      And if you got whitlow from a massage, which I don’t believe for a moment that you did, the symptoms would not disappear in hours. The intact skin of the body other than the mouth, genital or anus is too thick for virus to penetrate. We know that other proteins trip the IgG test artificially, we don’t know the exact protein or virus that causes that.

      Terri

    • February 2, 2022 at 10:55 am #76396
      scareddude
      Spectator

      Hi Terry, I just purchased for additional questions. Out of curiosity and scaredness, I did multiple Igg tests in the last couple of months and am confused with the results. I never had any sexual encounters in the last 8 months apart from the massage mentioned above. My test results so far are as below.

      Nov-14 2021 at Labcorp:-
      HSV-1 : 1.12
      HSV-2 : 1.17
      Supplemental Test : Abnormal

      Dec-15 2021 at Quest:
      HSV-1 : 1.20
      HSV-2 : 1.21
      No Supplemental test.

      I took Pfizer covid-19 booster dose on 16th Dec 2021.

      Dec-20 2021 at Labcorp:
      HSV-1 : <0.91
      HSV-2 : 1.01
      Supplemental Test : NEGATIVE

      Jan-31 2022 at Labcorp:
      HSV-1 : <0.91
      HSV-2 : 1.10
      Supplemental Test : NEGATIVE

      The last two Supplemental tests are negative. Wondering if I can put this whole thing behind me and move on. Should I consider doing a WB? Please advise. Thanks in advance.

    • February 5, 2022 at 10:22 am #76438
      Terri Warren
      Keymaster

      There is good agreement between negative supplemental LabCorp test and a negative western blot. If you can accept these two negative supplemental tests, then you can move on without the blot. If not, you should do the blot. If money is a real concern, I think you can accept these results are a true negative.

      Terri

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