This is indeed an unusual situation. I have a couple of questions for you. So you’ve never had a positive swab test from the mouth lesions, is that correct?
It would be very surprising if this child had frequently recurring HSV 2 on his mouth. So many many things speak against that but antibody testing for children is not advised as there are many false positives on this test in children. Also, we do know that oral HSV 2 traditionally recurs extremely infrequently. Your doctor keeps telling you that this doesn’t look like herpes so I think further clarification is needed. We know that when people test with an index value of 1.1 to 3.5, half of those results are false positives. So yes, you definitely need confirmatory testing. The suggested test is the herpes western blot. It is done at the University of Washington and you can get this test done a couple of ways. You can contact the UW lab and get a test kit sent to you for your doctor to draw and send back to them. Or you can become a phone patient of our clinic and we can order the test at a Quest lab near you. We can order this in all but five states. These are the only ways you can get this test right now. You need to get it done.
A history of cold sores may offer some protection to your co-workers, yes
I have addressed your second question above.
I would advise you not to make a huge deal of this with your kids. If you have a lesions that actually tests positive for HSV 2 from your mouth, just be careful not to kiss your kids on the mouth when you have a mouth sore. We don’t want your kids to develop antibodies to HSV 2. I would advise against supervising your kids with every move as you are suggesting – you could make them quite fearful. I seriously doubt that they will get it genitally if you do have it orally which we are not sure about anyway. Please be calm and get the confirmatory testing that you need.
You have two more questions – feel free to ask.
Terri