HSV1 + Low IGG results

[needinganswers]

Hello Terri,

I am 35 year old male. I had unprotected oral sex (her to me) and protected sex with kissing from a woman on November 15 2014. After that, i did not have any signs or worries. BTW, i have never been tested for HSV1 or 2 but have never experienced an outbreak or any symptoms like it. on December 6 2014 i again had unprotected oral sex from the same woman and protected sex. I noticed that she had a small bump above her upper lip that looked like a pimple with some redness around it. it did not look like the typical oral herpes to me, so against my better judgement i had sex. the oral sex was very brief, just a little bit before i was putting on the condom and there was no kissing.i have attached a picture of her lips from December 8. she claims to have gotten that pimple on December the 5th, by December the 10th it was completely gone. I started feeling the tip of my penis itching/stinging on December 7. I even had some clear discharge in i believe and felt i had to urinate constantly. by this time i was so scared i had herpes i thought about it all day and didn’t sleep the first couple days. She was tested on December 8 and tested positive for chlamydia and HSV1 (her value was 43 i believe, very high). I was swabbed inside the my penis for both chlamydia and HSV1 on December 12 and given 1 dose of azithromycin for precaution. I noticed the symptoms were still there for the next 2 weeks but were slowly going away. On December 15 the doctor told me i was negative for both and if it continued to see an urologist. On December 16 i had a small pimple on the shaft of my penis but it went away after a day or 2 and i have gotten those before so i did not think anything of it. On Dec. 23, two weeks after the encounter on the 6th in which she had the pimple, i was tested by labcorp for HSV1 and 2. I think they use the captiva test if i’m not mistaken. I was negative for HSV2 but positive for HSV 1, score of 1.41. On Feb. 2, eight weeks after the encounter i was negative for both HSV1 and 2. On jan 16 i went to a urologist and all my symptoms by then had went away. He said i was ok and he thinks i could have had chlamydia but the medicine cured it.

Dec. 23: Herpes Simplex Virus Type I 1.41 0.00-0.90 Positive
Feb. 2: Herpes Simplex Virus Type I <0.91 0.00-0.90 Negative

Do you think that the pimple above her lip could be HSV1? remember that she has makeup on during that picture and when i saw it, it was a little red. she told me she has never had a lesson or cold sore in her life and that it was just a pimple.

Is the false positive rates for HSV1 the same as HSV2? I see a lot of people with HSV2 false positives but not HSV1.

If this is a false positive on dec 23, would I continue to test false positive?

Is it possible to test with a value of 1.41 and then a negative?

Do you think i should get tested again at 16 weeks?

what are my chances of having HSV1?

thank you for all your help and i just want to be responsible about this.

[Terri Warren]

I deleted your picture – I think she would be too easily identifiable from this picture. It doesn’t look like a cold sore to me but it’s very hard to know.

The screening tests for HSV 1 are not terrific – they miss about 1-2 out of 10 infections. So honestly I don’t know what ot make of your test results. And if you are HSV 1 positive, you could have had it since childhood, you can’t know when you got it if you test positive. And yes, it is certainly possible to test at 1.41 and then negative. The test, as I said, is not great.

The herpes western blot it better if you really want to know your HSV 1 status (it also looks for HSV 2)

You could get tested again at 16 weeks, but again, the test isn’t great so I don’t think it could offer you any certainty.
Fifty six perfect of people in the US ages 14-49 test positive for HSV 1 by a very good test, so if you are infected, you are in this with the majority of people in your age group.

You can post two more questions now.

Terri

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