Western blot now, or hold off?

[Iguessweredoingthis]

Hi Terri! First of all thanks so much for all you do here-I can how much of a difference you are making!

I tested positive for HSV2 on an IGG on March 28, with an index score of 1.99. When I talked to my doctor about it, she said it was a weak positive, but they hadn’t done a confirmatory test even though it was indicated, and I should test again. I had blood drawn the next day and today (4/3) got the results: still positive, this time at 1.68. Unfortunately there still wasn’t a confirmation test done-apparently labcorp is out of the necessary reagent.

Their recommendation was to do another test in 4 weeks when they expect to have the reagent back in stock. I am wondering if I should follow that course of action, or just skip that and go straight to WB?

For context, I’ve never had any symptoms (I know you can be asymptomatic!) and a year and a half ago I had a false positive on a syphilis test. I would appreciate your thoughts on if I should wait for the reagents or if it’s not even worth it. Many thanks!

[Terri Warren]

It is only helpful to repeat the IgG test if you’ve had a recent sexual exposure that could have caused a new infection in you.
I wonder if we’ve already talked?
If it has been at least 12 weeks since your last sexual contact, you can do the blot now and it will be accurate

Terri

[Iguessweredoingthis]

Hi Terri! I apologize, I don’t totally understand-I want to repeat the IgG because they couldn’t do a confirmation test either time I did it, just the initial test, and both results were such weak positives. Given the Western Blot is complicated and expensive, I just was wondering if you thought I should wait until I can do the confirmation test, or if they are so unhelpful that I should skip right to the blot.

I don’t think we’ve spoken before!

Thanks 🙂

[Iguessweredoingthis]

In other words-do you think my two test results could be false postives, and that would be demonstrated by the labcorp confirmation test once the reagent comes back in stock.

[Terri Warren]

I think you could wait and do the LabCorp confirmatory test when they are back in stock, yes. I think it is possible that they are both false positives

Terri

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by Terri Warren.

[Iguessweredoingthis]

Hi Terri! Thanks so much for your response. For better or worse, I had the Quest inhibition test done, and it also came back positive. IGG = 2.25 (which they said was normal for some reason?), Inhibition % = 87.4.

Is it worth getting WB now? Could that IA be a false positive?

Thanks so much!

[Terri Warren]

We have definitely seen false positive inhibition essays in the past. I don’t know exactly how many I have in my file but I know that it’s around 10. If it was me, I would definitely do the blot.

Terri

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