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Hi Terri,
I am a 38yo married male. I have had several partners beginning March 2018, with the last contact being ~ early/mid July.
Up until Aug 18 2018, I had never taken any STD test before. I did the standard 10-test STD panel. Tests came back negative except for HSV-2, which I got an index of 13.30. This was devastating news, and 12 days later (On Aug 30) I had another HSV2 IgG test done, index 16.90
After this second test, I accepted the reality that I have HSV-2. However, reading about the western blot test, I had my blood drawn for the WB on Sept 18. Results were received ~ 2 weeks later, Negative for HSV-1, and HSV-2 “Indeterminate”
The day my blood was drawn for WB, I requested daily valtrex, to reduce transmission chance to my wife. After getting WB results, and finding this forum, I realized valtrex interferes with seroconversion and immediately stopped taking it. It was for 2 weeks that I took it, from Sept 18 to the beginning of Oct. My blood was drawn for WB Sept 18, before I took the first pill.
My wife has tested herself several times since this all began, and as of last week tested negative (igG). At no time have I seen anything worrisome “down there”, i.e. I have never personally had any visible symptoms.
1. Do I have any reason to be even cautiously optimistic that I don’t actually have it?
2. I realize it takes 3-4 months for most people to seroconvert, and I only now (after finding your forum) realize I took the WB too early. But still, considering my IgG was already so high, already at 16.90 on Aug 30, 19 days before my WB blood sample was drawn… do you think it’s odd that I got an Indeterminate?
3. When do you recommend I get another WB done, considering my timeframe as noted above, and considering I took daily valtrex for 2 weeks? Cost is not an issue, and if I am HSV2 positive I’d rather know sooner than later. This waiting and not knowing for certain is difficult on both me, my wife, and our marriage relationship.
Thanks!
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Your situation is completely atypical.
First, the medication that you took had nothing to do with the first blood draw which I think you know and if you stop now, it should not interfere with future testing. When was the last time you had sex with anyone other than your wife? You seem to already know that you need to wait three months to get an accurate test result. The recommendation from the University of Washington is normally to wait three months, get the blot, if indeterminate, do the test in another three months. But in your case, it sounds like you tested too early in the first place. So my recommendation now would be that you wait a total of six months from the last encounter with someone other than your wife before retesting. If you are indeterminate again, it is likely that you are uninfected. The guidance from the University of Washington is two indeterminates three months apart should be interpreted as a negative.Terri
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Yes, you can do it either way. Running both samples together is more expensive but it is slightly more accurate then comparing the two black side-by-side.
Terri.
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With an index value of 16, I do NOT think you should assume you are uninfected. This is confusing but your IgG is high enough that it is just not making sense to me that you have an indeterminate right now. The high index value is not consistent with new infection, no. The index values do vary with new infection but they are usually much lower than this with new infection.
Have you taken antiviral medicines?Terri
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Generally speaking, the majority of people who test at an index value of greater than 3.5 are infected with HSV 2. There are some exceptions– I tested a person with Western blot who have an index value on the IgG of 12 and she was negative by Western blot. The University of Washington had a patient who tested with an index value of 14 who tested negative by Western blot
Did you do your Western blot with me? If yes, I can ask the lab to look at it and review the indeterminate. If not, cannot do that. Generally, the guidance on how to interpret a indeterminate result is if you get two indeterminate results three months apart, you should consider yourself negative. With this high-value, I definitely think it would be worth asking the lab to look at these again if that happens. What lab did your IgG testing?
Terri
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OK, thanks
Terri
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