Is Western Blot Necessary

[thishasbeenalot]

Hi Terri-

I have been with the same person for the past year and some months. Back in April after a wax, I developed a small red bump on my labia. I thought it may be folliculitis so I made an appointment with my OB to get an antibiotic for it. It was at this appointment she stated that she thought it may be herpes. I was in complete shock. I’ve always been so careful and have very limited number of partners. However, I was having unprotected sex with this person who stated he tested negative for everything. She did a swab and blood test. She stated I would get the results back midweek the following week. My anxiety was thru the roof and I knew I couldn’t go from Thursday to midweek the following week with that over my head. So I paid for HSV 1&2 thru Quest with 24hrs results. The following day it came back positive with the following results:

HSV 1 <0.90
HSV 2 1.14

I was devastated. However consulting with some online doctors over the weekend they reassured that my number was so low that it was in the range of the false positive as did Quest. So I figured I’d wait to see how the ones at OB came back before completely losing my mind. That following week the Labcorp results were:

HSV 1 <0.90
HSV 2 1.19
HSV 2 IGG Supplemental: Test not performed. Unable to perform test due to current unavailability of reagents or discontinuation of test.

Swab Test was the herpes simplex virus 1 + 2 DNA panel, NAA+probe, unspecified specimen :

HSV 1 DNA: Negative
HSV 2 DNA: Positive

So I was horrified. I yelled at my boyfriend accusing him of lying to me. He then got tested and both of his tests were negative with the IGG for both 1&2. I’m not sure if these are false positives. Is it worth paying for the Western Blot or should I accept my diagnosis at this point?

[Terri Warren]

Interesting. Did you actually see his results? When did you last have intercourse with anyone else? Do you have any concerns that your partner could be having sex with someone else? Have you done another IgG test since April?

Terri

• This reply was modified 2 months ago by Terri Warren.

[thishasbeenalot]

I’ve seen other threads with multiple correspondence. Do I need to create a new thread for replies? Or should I pay again? Not sure if I used up my follow up questions. Desperately seeking guidance on next steps.

[thishasbeenalot]

I think I see what I did wrong maybe. I’m assuming you couldn’t see my replies where I just typed I the thread. Didn’t see the reply beside your name until today.

[thishasbeenalot]

Thanks for responding!

Yes I did. He logged into his MyChart to show me the results. The last person I slept with was 2021. I’ve finally had the courage to reach out to him to ask him to get tested too. He hasn’t reached back out to me with his results but he said he would. I don’t have a way to know for certain if my current boyfriend was being honest about being monogamous with me but he swears he’d only been with me since last year. I have not had another IGG because my OB said it was 100% certain since I had both swab and IGG and for me to just take antiviral. Not sure if maybe he has a false negative. Should I do another IGG instead of the Blot and if so, would the antiviral affect it?

[thishasbeenalot]

Hi Terri-

Not sure if you’ve seen my reply as of yet. Wasn’t sure if something else was needed on my end to make my replies visible.

[Terri Warren]

Between a positive swab test and a positive antibody test, you should believe that you have HSV 2 and that you likely acquired it prior to your current relationship. You should consider daily antiviral medicine to reduce the risk of infecting your current partner who tests negative. Condoms would reduce his risk of acquisition as well.

Terri

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