[Thinkingrunning]

Thank you for taking my unusual questions seriously.

1 If I wanted the ped to order the WB, do I just ask them to contact U of Washington or what are they supposed to do exactly? I doubt has ordered WB before so I thought i should have some idea of what it is I am asking them to do.

2 Have you ever seen or heard of a case of parent accidentally infecting their child’s genitals with parent’s oHSV1 -spreading it with their hands during diaper changes or by spit droplets while talking during a diaper change? I have oHSV1 and wonder if it is possible to infect my children’s genitals during a diaper change if say I hadn’t washed my hands properly or accidentally some spit from my mouth flew into their genital region when I was changing their diapers. Have you ever seen or heard of a case like this? This is my worst fear. I understand it is easy for children to get oral HSV from me by kissing.

3 The reason I worry so much is because my daughter has reoccurring areas of red irritation or what looks like folliculitis on her butt and genitals. Peds said that it looked like irritation but didn’t seem to know for sure and said that there was no fluid to swab. I don’t know why my 3 year old who wears underwear and only diapers at night would have reoccurring folliculitis and red marks of irritation down there. She takes baths daily and we clean her well. How many cases have you seen of kids where parents thought kids might have caught gHSV and it ended up being something else? what did it end up being instead?

4 Good to know that PCR test swab sample is stable for long time. I swabbed the first day I noticed the little red sores on my upper butt when they were just forming and did get a little blood when swabbing. The next few days the sores grew in size and looked like ulcers. It took a long time to heal and left a scar. I really thought it was HSV and the PCR (24/7 labs) result came back neg. Is it possible I swabbed the blisters too early? Should I swab test again?

[Thinkingrunning]

1. I will not ask for IgG test since you said they are not accurate and have 50% false positive rate. I would like to get testing done to see if my kids have HSV1. What about the western blot, is this test accurate for children?

2. I know you say that i should get any concerning spots swabbed for pcr testing, but swab testing seems dependent on good timing and proper sample collection technique (unroofing the blister to obtain adequate fluid sample) that I worry I will “miss the window” or get a false neg. It is also difficult for me to go to the doctor’s office as I have to take leave from work (full time). I think it would be easier and I would feel more confidant to have a western blot result for my kids to give me the final answer. Given how much this has caused me to worry about my kids, I am really considering going forward with western blot testing for them so I can have an answer and be able to move forward rather than worry about every little red bump. I have no intention to put them through anything difficult which is why i think it would probably be better to get the blot done than have to take my daughter in repeatedly to the doctor’s office. How do I go about getting western blot test for my kids?

3. I had what looked like a cluster of 5 spots on red base that turned into red ulcers that got larger and scabbed on upper right part of my buttock. I am not on AV and swabbed aggressively on the first day the red dots appeared using 24/7 lab kit and shipped it out on March 30th. Apparently there was a delay in the lab-I did not get my final result (neg for HSV 1 and 2) until 4/13 (2 weeks later). Can I trust this result or is a neg result more likely to be false if the sample was sitting there and not tested for 2 weeks? The lab told me that HSV stability is around 36 days before it can be determined unqualified and said to me that my result is accurate. However, on the website it said that testing is time sensitive and needs to be shipped immediately.

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