I’m not clear what you mean about the positive number on the antibody test. Your blood sample is run on a machine and it is compared to a known positive and a known negative sample. The number or the index value is determined by how close or far away the result is compared to the control positive or control negative. You stated that your number is now 0.03 positive but when I read what you wrote above that it says that your result is 1.13. So I’m thinking that you’re saying that your value is 0.03 above 1.0 is that correct? None of that really makes too much difference. The point is that your positive is a very low positive. As I read your post you’ve had two sex partners with whom you have not used condoms in the past. You do not have a high risk of having HSV-2 infection. The test that you need to clarify your situation is called herpes Western blot. Your doctor is confused about how this test should be used but I can help you understand it more fully. The Western blot looks for many proteins associated with HSV-2 antibody, rather than just a single protein that the screening test looks for. You have waited enough time from your last sexual experience to get the herpes Western blot test done. There are two ways to get this test done. The first is to contact the University of Washington lab and ask them to send you a test kit. You would then have your own doctor draw the blood spin it down and return the sample to the University of Washington. The second way would be to contact our clinic, become a phone patient of ours, and we can order the blood drawn at a Quest laboratory near where you live. What state do you live in, by the way?
Statistically there is an 85% chance that your test is a false positive. I think it would be a good idea to get the Western blot test done as soon as possible. You do not need to have any sores present for western blot blood antibody test to be done. Your doctor is in error there.
You have two more questions that you can ask me. Please don’t hesitate to do so.
Terri