If you had to bet?

[rick702]

Hi Terri,

First, thank you so much for making this site available and for the amazing job you do. I have been all over the internet the past few days and this resource is by far the best. Thank you so much.

Background:

I dated a girl who has genital herpes from from September 2014 to June 2015. She told me that she would get several outbreaks a year. When we started dating she began taking a daily dose of acyclovir and she had no visible outbreaks during the time we dated. I was under the mistaken impression that the acyclovir would prevent shedding and I would be okay. We had lots of unprotected sex.

I had a HSV-2 IgG blood test from LabCorp on April 3, 2015 and the results came back negative, much to my relief.

I had surgery recently and about 1 week after my surgery (Monday) I noticed a single white bump or blister on the underside of my penis about an inch below the head. Just one bump. No pain, no itching, nothing. The next day (Tuesday) it was small red sore. Still no pain or itching. I put bacitracin on it and 4 days later (Friday) it was healed. There were no other symptoms whatsoever.

I went back to LabCorp on Sept 10, 2015 and ordered HSV1 and HSV2 tests. The results have come back positive for both:

HSV-1 IgG: 5.77
HSV-2 IgG: 2.21

I’m 37. I don’t get oral cold sores, but I believe I used to get scabs around my mouth as a small child, which were likely cold sores. But they were more like scabs around my mouth than bumps on the lips. However, I don’t recall getting a sore like that since I was about 8 years old, almost 30 years ago.

Questions:

1. Do I have any chance of the recent test being a false positive for HSV-2?

2. Can I hire your clinic to help me arrange for a Western Blot test?

3. Is it possible that I’ve had HSV-1 since I was a small child but haven’t had a cold sore in 30 years, or do you think I contracted HSV-1 recently as well?

I realize this is 3 questions. I’ll be happy to pay extra.

Thank you so much!

Rick

[Terri Warren]

You get three posts, not three questions, so you still have two posts to go – no worries.
1. I think there is approximately a 50-50 chance that you have a false positive on the IgG antibody test. 2. Yes, we can arrange a western blot for you. You need clarification for sure. 3. Once you have a cold sore, you will always be HSV 1 positive – that is consistent with your history of childhood infection

Terri

[rick702]

Thank you for your reply and all your help during this process. I now have a positive Western Blot. So, in light of that, just a couple final follow up questions:

My first outbreak was very mild, with only one lesion and no pain, likely due to the fact I already had Herpes 1 prior to infection. The lesion healed within a week. That was over 1 month ago. I have had no subsequent outbreaks.

1. Typically, when first outbreaks are mild can people expect that subsequent outbreaks will be mild as well?

2. Does the mild outbreak mean my immune system is doing a good job at keeping the virus at bay?

3. Will taking a daily suppressive dose of Valtrex affect my immune system’s ability to fight the virus in any way? For example, if I were to start taking Valtrex and then stop later, would I then be more prone to outbreaks?

4. Are there any drawbacks to taking a daily dose of Valtrex?

Thanks again.

[Terri Warren]

Sorry to hear about the results of your western blot – I would imagine that you are disappointed but you also sound like you are doing OK

1. Yes, typically outbreaks aren’t worse than the first infection, though that isn’t true every single time
2. Yes, it definitely does
3. No, it will certainly not. You will not be more prone to outbreaks if you stop Valtrex, at least no more prone than you were before.
4. No. I have had patients on acyclovir or valacyclovir for 30 years.

Terri

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