How did this happen??

My husband and I have been together for 5 years. Prior to getting together we were both tested and were negative for herpes. Two years ago I was tested again when I became pregnant with my son....again negative. Now I'm pregnant again, and this time I have tested positive for HSV2. I've been faithful for 5 years....if he tested negative 5 years ago, did he cheat, and contract it in the last two years?? Neither of us has ever had symptoms of either genital or oral herpes!! I'm so confused, and sick over it.

I would ask for copies of the lab work of your previous tests. The first thing I would do is confirm you had an IgG test before getting married. IgM tests are notoriously unreliable. The second possibility is that the IgG test does a good job of picking up HSV2 (much more so than HSV1), but it can and does miss a few, resulting in false negatives. Third, I would also look at your most recent test to see what kind of test was done and what the index values for all of these tests were. Looking at the lab reports is (IMHO) the best place to start.

p.s. Most doctors don't test for herpes, so I'd be especially curious to get hard copies of all lab results for you and your husband so you can see with your own eyes that (1) you were even tested for it, (2) you got the right test done each time, and (3) your index value on this most recent test is definitely over 1.1. Even values between 1.1 and 3.5 have a chance of being false positives.

Thank you @HikingGirl. I have hard copies of the most recent test...it was IgG but my value was 1.00. I sent the labs to my PCP and she is going to retest me.

My understanding is that an IgG value of 1.00 is more likely to be a false positive than a true positive *unless* it is a very, very recently acquired infection with initial antibodies still building as a reaction to a very recent infection.

I don't understand why the tests themselves don't place values between .90 and 3.5 as "potentially positive" rather than "positive." It is known that false positives can occur in that range. The closer to .90, the likelier it is a false positive. The closer to 3.5, the likelier it is a true positive.

I hope you'll find this is a false positive. Glad you're following up with your doctor.

Thank you @optimist!! It seems as though my PCP believes it may be false as well. Hoping her test will be negative!!