1.As I mentioned above, my sample was not recorded at UW until 4 days after my blood draw. I am having trouble conceptualizing how the ice pack could have remained cold enough for four days. Is there something about the WB kit that helps it remain cold? The pink foam maybe?
2. I read a post on medhelp from Dr. Hansfield where he suggested the Western Blot was less sensitive than the igg and probably missed more infections.Not sure if im allowed to attach links.
Thoughts on this?I’ve heard with tests in general as specificity increases sensitivity starts to decrease. Is that not the case with the Western Blot? I never got an IGG test but I got tested 9 months after the exposure with no partners in the interim.
3. I’ve also been a little concerned about seroreversion because I got tested almost a year after the exposure. Do antibodies disappear overtime or become undetectable? I’ve seen on this forum you say that it sometimes happens with the igg but never with the western blot.
They do not disappear with the blot. They can with the IgG (seroreversion)
Why does it not happen with the WB? I got concerned because I came across a post on this forum where the poster said they contacted the University of Washington to ask about seroreversion on the western blot specifically.
According to the poster the lab’s response was:“Antibody levels may wane/oscillate overtime due to the patient’s immune function and/or antigen stimulation.”
Do you agree that antibodies can become undetectable overtime on the blot? I know a small number of people never seroconvert but is it unlikely someone would go from detectable to undetectable on the blot?
I do not because the western blot must have FOUR antibody proteins to be called positive and at worst, if only four were present and one went away, there would still be three and the blot would be called indeterminate, but there normally way more than four present The IgG only looks for one
1. Is there any known estimate of what percent of infected people never make detectable antibody? I realize that may be kind of hard to study. I saw Dr. Hansfield say on medhelp that it could be up to 10% of hsv2 infected people but he later said it was probably closer to 2-3 percent. Which do you think is more accurate?
It totally depends upon the test that is looking for antibody. We don’t really have this statistic for the blot
2. I’ve read that you’ve seen 9 or 10 people that have swab tested positive that were negative by western blot. Did all of these people wait at least 12 weeks and not take antiviral therapy in other words were they all a complete mystery as to why they would test negative?
No, some of them took antiviral medication and some of them did not wait 12 weeks.
If you want to do the blot again, go ahead. Since I posted this, I have had my first person go from indeterminate to positive on the second draw
Terri