Test Results

[tjackson]

Hello Terri,
I recently was tested on May 02 for HSV1 and HSV2 and the results from the 2 tests are as follows:

IGG, Type Specific AB
HSV1 – 1.88
HSV2- – 10

IGM, IFA W/RFL TO TITER
HSV1 – Negative
HSV – Negative

I’ve never had any known symptoms and I always normally pay close attention to anything happening in my genital area. I normally get tested for everything at least once a year but unbeknownst to me about 3 years ago, the doctor I started seeing when I got tested didnt order HSV testing as part of the full STD panel, which I found out is fairly common. So I just realized that my last confirmed negative test of HSV1 and 2 was August 2019. And I’ve been operating under the assumption that I was completely STD free with test results from my partners and I since then.

So based on my test results from what I’ve read, this mostly likely isnt a recent infection. Based on your experience and the test results, do you know a ballpark on what would be possible time of infection? Are we talking at least 2-3 months, 6 months, a year, 2 years? Could i have gone years without any symptoms?

Thanks for your assistance and for this wonderful service you provide.

• This topic was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by tjackson.

[Terri Warren]

I would agree that a true positive is likely here, but I have been false positives up to an index value of 17!
If you are positive, we cannot know if it has been positive for 6 months or 10 years, I’m afraid. I assume that you’ve had some unprotected sexual encounters since 2019?

Terri

[tjackson]

That’s correctly. Mostly under the assumption that both people were being tested for everything. I’ve been thinking about getting a Western Blot just to be a %100 sure since I’ve never had symptoms.

Since I’ve never had any symptoms, would you recommend taking Valtrex daily for suppressive therapy?

[Terri Warren]

People who are infected but have no symptoms still shed virus on about 10 out of 100 days so yes, if this is a true positive, then taking Valtrex would reduce transmission to any uninfected partners.

Terri

[tjackson]

Ok thanks. One more question. I saw you state on this forum that the likely hood of contracting HSV1 after having HSV2 is like 1 in 55000. So based on that and the numbers on my test results, would you say that the HSV1 is likely a false positive? Thanks.

[Terri Warren]

That’s very difficult to know. I have seen more false positive HSV 1 antibody tests than I used to see, that’s for sure. At 1.88, it could go either way. But if you do have HSV 1, you got it before you got HSV 2. I guess if you want to know for certain, you should do the blot, it looks for both HSV 1 and HSV 2.

Terri

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