So then all of this does seem consistent with new genital HSV 1 infection. The negative (.01 over the cutoff is basically negative), then the lesion that was positive followed by a strongly positive HSV 1 antibody test suggests seroconversion during that time period. Just for my own information: The IgM in January that was positive. When was that in relationship to anything? You mentioned that you did a random test for herpes. I’m thinking it was not in relationship to the outbreak which you described was culture positive but untyped. When was the outbreak again?
The IgM tests are so difficult because they really freak people out when they are positive, even if the situation doesn’t fit with new infection. To me, for you, it sounds like the positive IgM, negative IgG tests were done not in relationship to the outbreak at all. One more question: did the person who gave you oral sex have an oral outbreak at the time?
Here is how I”m reading your timeline:
January: random testing. IgM positive, IgG negative for both
some other time: received oral sex, culture positive for HSV 1
July: positive IgG for HSV 1 at 15.
Is all of that correct?
I do not think you need to do any further testing at all. In the future, it will likely NOT be a risk to a partner who has a cold sore history to have intercourse as this person already has HSV 1 and is very unlikely to get it at a new location. You should also have few recurrences, if any, statistically. Be sure, when speaking about this, that partners in the future know the difference between a cold sore and a canker sore- canker sores are not caused by herpes but people often get them mixed up.
I hope this has been helpful for you.
Terri