Herpes testing please help

Hi All,

My girlfriend of the past few months at my request got an STD test. It was an IGG which was taken in the second week of may, her results came back positive for both types of HSV. The scores were HSV-1 over 5.0 and HSV-2 was 3.6 as you can imagine we were both startled. She spoke to her Ex due to her having no symptoms or outbreaks. The last time they had been together was in early February, he got tested which came back negative. So she waited 1 month and retested which came back negative for both types of HSV. She was given the generic form of a herpes medication but only took it for 5 days and decided to not take it until she was retested. Should I trust this test as it was taken in June and her last sexual contact with anyone else was in early February.

12-16 weeks post exposure is when the majority of people are going to have antibodies detectable in their blood. The HSV1 test result is pretty solid positive. This only means that she was exposed to that strain of the virus like the vast majority of the population. The tricky part is that HSV1 can be present in either location - oral or genital - and this can't be told from the blood test unfortunately. The only way to know is if symptoms ever occur and then having a swab performed. Her HSV2 result is positive but on the lowish side of positive. From what I've read with < 3.5 there is a chance for a false positive. If she has any questions about that, she can always wait and have that redone. The western blot test is also an option, this test is what those who want confirmation of their results have done. Its only performed in one lab and thus it can be a little more difficult than normal lab work and cost some money out of pocket. Look up Westover Heights clinic in Washington State, they have more info on how to have this test performed

I'll tell her about the Western Blot. Her retest a month after her first test came back negative for both, so that's why I'm scratching my head.

I just don't know which test to trust the 1st or second.

@TP14 has she requested copies of both labs and compared them side by side? That sounds crazy with it coming back negative a month after testing positive. I'd start with comparing results with her own eyes and making sure the same kind of test was done and look again at the numbers.

Yes she did it at the same lab, has never had any signs. The only difference is her lab sent the first test out for testing and her second test the did in house. She's a nurse at a obgyn clinic so the doctors wanted to see for their selves. The only thing I could think was it was a false positive. I'm new to all of this, always practiced safe sex and been tested regularly always beg for everything so, it just struck me as odd.

Wow. I'm starting to think a western blot is worth a closer look. It's far more sensitive than the IgG. The IgG test can miss up to a third of HSV1 infections, which may explain the negative result in the second test. My HSV2 index value was 3.27 and the western blot confirmed I was positive for it (also turns out I've had it for around 20 years and my ex husband of 15 years never got either strain from me....I didn't know until after we divorced). I also have HSV1....although so do the majority of adults!

Keep in mind most STD panels don't include herpes. In fact, most doctors don't test for it if there are no symptoms, and 87% of those who have it have no symptoms or symptoms so mild they're mistaken for something else. Both strains are very common and it's likely you've encountered them before, even if your partners are tested (referring to first sentence of this paragraph).

The virus can shed (exit the body) with no symptoms, anywhere in the boxer shots region. I got herpes from a man with no symptoms and I always used condoms with him. Skin to skin genital touching is enough. I wish I could put up a billboard telling people that.

Anyway, I mention all of that to say, we hear you! Many of us have been having the same WTH moment and scratching our heads how this could happen to us. Hopefully your girlfriend can get some straight answers.

I know that's what I'm hoping too, to go from a positive for both before the 3 month mark and have no symptoms to negative for both a month later makes me believe it was a false positive. She also has endometriosis idk if that would have any effect

At the risk of sounding like doom and gloom. It could just as easily be a false negative. Believe me, I prayed mine was a false positive, but for my own sanity I needed to know for sure. Seventeen months later, I'm much happier being sure of and informed about my status than the agony I went through of not knowing.

I am not a health care professional, but the IgG tests for antibodies your own body makes in response to the virus, which should make it unrelated to other disorders. Best wishes to your girlfriend as she decides how to move forward.

She plans to get tested in august, that will be definitive for me. I'm the same way I hate being in limbo.

I'm so confused still. What exactly does it mean when you say that our bodies made the antibodies to the virus. We still have herpes and can give it to someone else. Cause like I said my ex and his wife keep saying that they don't have it.

@thsbtch hi there, so the antibodies are what they use to test you for HSV. The virus itself lives in the nerves, not in the blood. So you can't detect the virus by looking for it in the blood. Instead what they do is look for antibodies that your body produces. These antibodies are what your body produces in response to the virus. They're your body's way of fighting the virus. For example, with chickenpox, i was never vaccinated because I had chickenpox as a baby. When I had to prove for school and work purposes that I had immunity to the virus, since I didn't have a documented vaccination, I had to get an antibody test which showed that I had antibodies to it. These were developed by my bodys immune response to having been infected with the virus.

You will only have antibodies to the HSV virus if you have the virus. Since it hides in the nerves the only two ways to test for it are via blood antibody testing (IgG) or via a swab test. Hopefully that makes sense!