Reply To: HSV-2 False Positive?

[SeekingAdvice123]

I would like to add that the 2 instances of receiving oral sex occurred in the middle of May 2022 with a girl who had only one prior sexual partner and had never performed oral before then. There was a period of about 3 months of zero encounters after that while single (including kissing) before my August 12th screening.

In total I had kissed 7 different women throughout my life up to the point of the screening. All were my age or younger with less than 2 or zero previous sexual partners each, and I was constantly on the lookout for cold sores before I ever knew what the herpes virus was. Is it possible I contracted HSV-2 just from kissing?

I know that a 3.31 index value is closer to the high range of the 1.1-3.5 zone of potential false positives, so I expect there is a 10-25% chance it will be proven wrong based on the index score alone. However, given that I had no significant prior sexual history and was sick with covid the week before the screening, would it be fair to assume the chance of a false positive is higher than 10-25%?

I also want to note I was vaccinated for varicella as a kid, and have likely been exposed to the epstein barr virus from living with a family member who had mono. Furthermore, I travel to Mexico quite often and I believe I have read that you find false positives more often in those born outside the US. Don’t know if being born in the US but traveling to a foreign country quite frequently counts.

Thanks in advance. I ordered the western blot kit and will schedule a meeting with you when it arrives to help find a place to draw. I was just wondering what your perspective was on my outlook.