Betsy...Hello again and hoping you had a great holiday season and new year. My question is this. A family member just received information that he/she is HSV positive from their doctor. They consulted me knowing what I went through for over a year. I showed them my test results: HSV 1 antibody negative IGG .07 and HSV 2 antibody detected IGG .42 and told them what you told me that the presence of antibodys doesnt mean theres an infection as long as the IGG numbers are below the range for positive. They said their doctor said the presence of antibodies means there was an exposure and that the IGG numbers are low only means that there isnt an active infection...but it doesnt mean its a negative result nor should I feel confident about telling someone I'm HSV negative. What do you make of this? I was exposed to HSV in Oct of 08 and the tests were done in Sept of 09.

unfortunately their provider isn't very knowledgeable about herpes testing Low numbers don't mean it's not active. There's no such thing as just being exposed either.

I stand by what I told you.

betsy

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Betsy, thanks for clearing that up. I'm going to direct them to this website and urge them to seek out proper guidance in reading and the interpretation of test results. My anxiety level started to go through the roof again! You truely are the best!!!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!!

Betsy....I talked with the individuals previously mentioned. They went to their doctor armed with your info and some research they did on their own and the doctor said "if there are antibodies present, the body made them for a reason and if someone was with someone who has HSV then the reason is pretty obvious. The levels of antibodies just determine the extent of the infection" What do you make of this? The reason I'm asking is that the individuals in question have their IGG levels right at the border for positive and they were using my numbers to compare with and show the doctor. Thats when he gave them the HSV 1 no antibodies and HSV 2 antibodies theory of my results. Is this doctor really that out there, or is there a method to his madness?

he doesn't understand the test at all I think. You'll never get a 0 on the herpes blood tests. they compare them to known hsv+ and hsv- samples in a machine and use a special light to come up with a numeric equivalent of how likely it is the testing sample is + or not ( obviously this is the greatly simplified version of the test...lol ). So if you get a .45 as a result for hsv2, that doesn't mean that your body has a little bit of herpes, it means that your sample returned that result and because of extensive testing we know that it's a negative result with that test.

I recommend that either your friend follow up on their herpes testing with someone else or just post their results here for me to look at. really easy for them to join and post here I know it's really hard when your medical provider is telling you one thing and someone else is telling you another. Unfortunately providers can't learn it all in medical school and unless they get additional training on certain subjects, they never get the proper education ( this goes for myself too in my own day to day paying job even! ). since I do all herpes all the time here, I've focused my info on herpes and all that goes with it. also your friend can ask her provider to call the makers of the test he's ordering from the lab ( if it's herpeselect , they have info on their website www.herpeselect.com for providers to call and ask questions ). they have people there to answer questions monday thru friday no matter which brand of test is being used. He can call the lab he uses for the info - they'll tell him who to call to ask.

betsy

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ASHA Moderator

Hey Betsy...just took your info to the PA who read my results and he was educated to say the least. I'm curious about something though. What are the odds of having a false negative? I hear so much about false positives....is it because people put so much faith in the fall back "well the test said negative" as opposed to the people who are desperately hoping for the "borderline positive". I'm starting a new relationship and the woman I'm dating said she had a herpes test done and is negative and asked what my status was and I said negative she then said great now we can stop using condoms. I'm still really freaked out that my daughter had the cold sore and I get herpe symptoms like the itchy/tender skined crotch, actually its more like my pubic hairs feel like steel wool..dont know if it has anything to do with the large amounts of zinc I've been taking for a sinus infection or just me being crazy obsessive over this whole thing. I keep saying that it's a possibility of a false negative, then I talk myself out of it saying I waited over a year after the exposure and my body would have produced a higher amount of anti-bodies by this point if there was an active infection. My IGGS were .07 and .45 for type 1 and 2 respectively. My family swears that my daughter didnt have a cold sore and it was just a reaction to her being sick......then again my family also believes that going outside with wet hair in the winter will put you in the hospital with pneumonia.

You mean I didn't get the nasty cold I have because I go outside with wet hair sometimes plus I don't wear hats? You want to go argue with my mom about that one? lol


The herpes select picks up 98% of all hsv2 infections. It picks up on 94% of hsv1 infections if I recall. No reason to keep thinking herpes at this point.

By all means if you aren't comfortable stopping the use of condoms yet with your new partner, don't. Sometimes the peace of mind of them are worth the expense and fun disposing of them ( I know I'm not the only one with dogs who like to dig them out of the garbage....lol ).

When your daughter is older ( anytime over 12-14 years of age ), you can get her blood tested for hsv1 if you want. Talk to her when she's older and starting to get curious about sex and explain to her about the risks from performing oral sex with having hsv1. Meanwhile if she's young, just keep the cold sore talk simple and teach her when you are sick or have a cold sore, you don't kiss others or share food/drinks with them. You don't teach her to be afraid of the virus, you teach her to have a little common sense about it

betsy

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ASHA Moderator