Western Blot to Confirm Negatives?

[jcon729]

Hi Terri! Thank you so much for your service to the community via your work in practice and this forum. It’s a beautiful thing you do!

I am a 34 year old female who was married for five years (2014-2019), during that marriage there was infidelity. We have since separated and divorced. A year after the separation/divorce, my ex-husband notified me of his (asymptomatic) HSV2 positive status and encouraged me to get tested. I did immediately, even though I have never had any symptoms (IGG blood test) and was negative (January 2021). I tested again this week (another IGG blood test at Quest), as I am in a new, monogamous relationship and want to be extra safe/cautious, and I am negative again.

I have read many pages on this forum board to see if I see any trends in NEGATIVES being confirmed by Western Blot, but don’t see much. I see plenty in the way of POSTIVIES being confirmed or negated with the Western Blot. I am toying with the idea of getting a Western Blot, considering it is the gold standard and 99.9% accurate after this much time. The only reason I am considering it is because I did read in a response you wrote on the board that if you test negative on IGG, you’ll likely ALWAYS test negative on IGG (even if there is something there to pass??). I am a bit hung up on that technicality and am wondering if I should get a Western Blot just to confirm my negative tests–if that would even be helpful given my situation and as much time that’s passed?

Thank you so much again for all you do!!

[Terri Warren]

The IgG test misses 8% of HSV 2 compared to the western blot. So that means it picks up 92% of cases – that’s pretty good though not perfect. Whether you do the blot or not depends on how certain you want to feel about this result. Without any symptoms, that’s also a good thing in terms of not being infected.

TErri

[jcon729]

Thank you for your response! I will do the WB to confirm I am not within the 8%. I believe I get two follow up questions, and I really only have one more:

Have you ever known a person to have been possibly exposed and always negative (like me), but the antibodies or virus has stayed “hidden” (inactive, dormant?) for lack of a better word for years and then all of a sudden, they are testing positive or having symptoms with no new exposure?

I know these neurotic questions are annoying, but I know myself–if I get the negative confirmed on the WB, I’m going to wonder if I should continue periodically testing (even if I do not have a change in partner) and then always feel the need to confirm with the WB… I certainly do NOT want to be living my life that way and just want to take the results for what they are without all the extra overthinking. Any thoughts on that hypothetical posed above occurring?

Thank you again for your input and help!

[Terri Warren]

Have you ever known a person to have been possibly exposed and always negative (like me), but the antibodies or virus has stayed “hidden” (inactive, dormant?) for lack of a better word for years and then all of a sudden, they are testing positive or having symptoms with no new exposure?
Not if the test was the western blot, no, not if they have taken the blot at 12 weeks or more after exposure to HSV 2 and they have not taken extended antiviral medication prior to testing

I know these neurotic questions are annoying, but I know myself–if I get the negative confirmed on the WB, I’m going to wonder if I should continue periodically testing (even if I do not have a change in partner) and then always feel the need to confirm with the WB… I certainly do NOT want to be living my life that way and just want to take the results for what they are without all the extra overthinking. Any thoughts on that hypothetical posed above occurring?

If you do the blot, you should believe the results.

Terri

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