Is the Western Blot Conclusive?!

[Queens1986Member]

Hey Terri,
About a year and a half ago,(May 2013) i tested positive for HSV-2 via Herpeselect at 2.55 igg. Im HSV-1 positive,and have been since i was a child. i never had any genital symptoms or outbreaks. Never had a reason to believe i had the virus. i tested as part of my annual checkup. As with most people who tested positive for HSV-2, i panicked and turned to the internet for answers and to learn more about HSV2.Im a 28 african american bisexual female. My last sexual encounter before being tested was with a female,(July 2012) which was 10 months before i was tested and that was strictly oral sex. My last sexual encounter with a male was about 2 years before i was tested (May 2011). Also in 2011 i became pregnant with my daughter. Had no symptoms or outbreaks of HSV-2 during the pregnancy. I did have an outbreak of HSV-1 during my labor and C-section, im guessing from the stress of laboring. Not confident in the test results, i turned to the internet. I learned about low igg results and false positives. After reading different forums, i learned about Western Blotting for HSV2 at the Univerity of Washington as confirmatory for low positives. Reluctant, but i did find a doctor to order the test. About three weeks later (June 2013) i received the results, positive HSV1, but negative hsv2. That was a year and a half ago, but to this day i still live with the conflicting test results. Can i go on with my life and consider myself hsv2 negative?

[Terri WarrenKeymaster]

Yes, you can consider yourself negative (unless you have had other sexual contacts since then that aren’t described in this post). At 2.5, you had about a 60% chance it was a true positive but a 40% chance it was not. You were in the 40%.

One of the hardest tasks that I have, both online and in person with my patients in the clinic, is to convince them that they do not have herpes after some sort of positive test – be it IgM and low positive IgG. People are pretty hard on themselves and when a positive comes up, they tend to think it is true particularly if they had some sort of sexual contact that was outside of their regular relationship. I don’t know that this was the case with you – just saying.

Good for you for pursuing this further and getting the answers that you needed. You can now take HSV 2 off your plate. Now in the future, when you begin a relationship, I think it would be best practice to get partners tested for everything, including herpes, before having sex with them so this period of worry won’t need to happen again.

I’m glad you wrote to me to confirm. You’ve got two more posts to make if you need further information.

Terri

[Queens1986Member]

Thank you so much for your guidance and reassurance. I lived with this for a year and half. I haven’t had any sexual contact since testing. I was afraid to, but what made me look for your guidance is I’m starting a new relationship with someone. Him and I haven’t been sexually intimate yet but I was dreading having “the talk” with him about possibly having genital herpes. It feel so much better hearing that I don’t have to worry about herpes and I could put this to bed. The infectious disease doctor that tested me in 2013 told me to go on with my life, but hearing it from you a herpes expert for over 30 years is so much more reassuring.Lol. I admire what you do and happy to have spoken with you. But I will take your advice and I will ask him to be tested for all STDs before I become sexual active with him.

Thank you a bunch
Have a Happy Thanksgiving

[Terri WarrenKeymaster]

I’m so glad this was helpful for you. Hopefully at some point in the future, the testing will be more accurate and there will be less need for clarification. Then fewer people will need to go through what you have gone through here. You clearly have taken this seriously and have done all the right things to get through this.

Terri

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