It’s never foolish to be faithful!
He could certainly be infected since childhood with HSV 1 and have no symptoms, absolutely Seventy percent of those infected with HSV 1 do not report symptoms. So there is no way to know when he was infected, no. His positive value is clearly positive, not in a questionable range at all. Remember that 56% of the US population between the ages of 14-49 are HSV 1 positive.
As for you: your HSV 2 value is definitely in the range that needs confirmation. At your value, there is a low chance but still a chance that you are actually positive. The test could also have missed your HSV 1 infection as it misses 1-2 out of 10 infections – the test is far less good for HSV 1 than HSV 2. You need a western blot confirmatory test. The other possibility of course is that your husband is newly infected, recently infected you and your antibody level is going to up at some point. I am not suggesting that’s what happened but it is possible – his antibody test may just not be positive yet. If he did have a recent sexual contact with someone else, that could be the case. I know this limbo must be very anxiety provoking. You can do another test and see where your IgG value goes.
We are making arrangements to collect samples from the states that do not allow shipment to UW as part of a research study to look at the results of low positives in these states and what impact that has on people who are falsely positive. That study should be up and running in the next week or so so yes, we could gather your sample at a Quest lab near you.
Your child is not at risk of your HSV 2 infection, if by chance you have it nor is she at risk of your husband’s HSV 1 infection unless he has a cold sore. They way we kiss a child is not the way we kiss an adult so asymptomatic transmission is extremely unlikely.
You have two more questions – ask away.
Terri