Hi everyone -

I just went for a routine STD testing - I've done it a couple times in my life because I am a huge hypochondriac (I've lost a lot of sleep and was personally sure I had cancer, and diabetes at one point in my life. Both were false) . I have only not worn a condom during sex with one woman (during a 2.5 year relationship with my ex gf). I've had a condom break twice with 2 other partners in the last 15 years, but realized it right away and stopped having sex. I'm have not had a lot of sex partners and have always been incredibly paranoid about getting STDs.

About a week and a half ago I broke up with my girlfriend, quit my job and moved houses. Starting 2009 as a new person. I also got a full physical and went to an internet std testing site to get a full barrage of STD tests. Everything (as I assumed) came back negative, except HSV2. I've been absolutely losing my mind the last week and a half and have been doing a lot of research on the internet. From my own research I've found a high level of HSV2 IGG false positives.

My results are as follows:

HSV1 IGG < 0.91
HSV2 IGG 1.51

I've never had anything that would be an outbreak. Twice in my life (5+ years ago) I had a red dot in my genital that I thought was an STD and went to my doctor. Both times my doctor told me that I was looking at ingrown hairs and that my problem is anxiety and not sexually transmitted diseases. Since two doctors told me I have an anxiety and not std problem I have tried to relax more and have a normal sex life (always with condoms), but this new result is causing me to lose my mind.

Here is my question - being HSV1 negative and HSV2 low positive (1.51) what is the percentage chance that I actually have HSV2? I'm very confident I have not had any outbreaks - I am a pretty paranoid/anxious guy so I've always been very aware of anything going on down there.

At this point I'm completely freaking out, and want to see from your experience how often a 1.51 comes back as a truly false positive. I've heard from a few friends I've disclosed this too that they have had doctors tell them not to get tested unless they have symptoms because the test can be very unreliable and not worth the emotional stress.

From my previous sexual history I really don't feel like I could have an STD, but I did come back as a 1.51 with a positive HSV1 result. What does that mean? I am going to go get retested, but what are the likely outcomes? Please respond with something so I can at least sleep the next week .

Thanks

Tornado

When you retest it should be with a herpes biokit hsv2 igg blood test or a herpes WB. Do not just repeat the test you had done this time. How long was it since you last had sex before you had the blood test done?


Could this be a real positive? It could be but it's still well within the false positive range so it needs confirmation with additional testing. Both the biokit and the herpes wb are recommended confirmatory hsv2 tests.

betsy

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ASHA Moderator

I was tested 4 weeks after the last time I had sex. what does this mean - how does it (or does it not) relate to the 1.51 result?

If you can get your ex gf to get tested and share her blood test results with you that would be faster answers. Otherwise wait 3 more months and get additional testing done then.

betsy

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ASHA Moderator