I am worried I contracted HSV2 in my gluteal cleft. I was at a bar with some older strangers who bought me a few drinks. The lady (very drunk) grabbed my leg at some point and started massaging it. I believe she may have put her hand under my shirt on my back, then reached below my belt and touched my gluteal cleft area and possibly scratched it as I remember saying Ouch. My concern is that she had an active HSV2 sore she had recently touched, either intentionally or not and had cellular material in her fingernail.

4 days later I developed skin breakdown and redness in the cleft. Over the next few days red bumps and raw spots appeared above this area.

At 10 days I developed a small bump on my penile shaft which turned into a raw spot the next day. It was PCR tested at this point, then again the next day when it was healing, both negative, but there was no vesicle/fluid at the time of the test. It was healed a week later.

After this I had buzzing on my outer ankle. At Day 26 I noticed a painful sore there with a scab. I removed the scab and PCR swabbed it, which was negative. It has continued to buzz and be slow to heal.

My question is, suppose the woman did directly inoculate my cleft with HSV2, would a primary infection spread to the penis a few days later (like a recurrence through the nerves) and then to the ankle a week or so after that? I am certain that my penis was not touched. Do you see someone with new herpes with a genital lesion who also has a lesion on the upper buttocks or something, or can that only happen via a recurrence?

I don't have a good explanation for all this as my IGG was negative just before this, and I retested it on Day 12 and Day 34, both still negative. So it would have to be a new infection and I haven't had sex in 18 months.

The scenario that you present is not a risk for HSV 2.  This is not how HSV 2 is transmitted.  First of all, I think it is highly unlikely that she had just touched a herpes sore and then touched you.  Normally, people who use the restroom, especially women touch their genitals with toilet paper not their bare hand.  Then you used her hand to touch you leg before then reaching under your shirt and touching your back.  If there had, by some wild circumstance, had virus on her hand, it would have been totally wiped out by the time she got to your gluteal cleft.  Did a clinician see the raw spot that you are describing?  What did they say? 

She did not infect your gluteal cleft.  This idea is out of the bounds of what is normal and an unwarranted concern. As I recall, the last time we spoke, you also suggested scenarios that were definitely not a risk for contracting herpes but you were still worried. This is similar.

Terri

I have a history of getting worked up over folliculitis, little red marks, stings, etc. This is a little different. It's the penile shaft bump that turned into a raw spot that really worries me, hence my question that if I did get a primary infection on the gluteal cleft if it could spread to the penis (and then potentially the ankle) within a few days. My PCP looked at the rash in the cleft and said it didn't look like herpes as there were no vesicles (but in the picture I took before I could see a cluster of white bumps). 2 different NPs looked at the penile rash/sore and said it didn't look like herpes but this was after the bump/vesicle changed into a cut/raw spot/flaky skin. Each did a quick swab (one 2 days after bump, one 3 days) that were PCR tested and negative, but they didn't really dig the swab in it and just brushed against the skin (which had recently been cleansed with antiseptic).

I would be surprised if this is a first recognized recurrence given I never had symptoms before and had recent negative IGG tests, and the only way it could be a new infection is if it occured that night at the bar.

I know you won't give a diagnosis from pictures, but I think they really provide context here and will help you understand why I am so confused/upset:

https://docdro.id/JcSVfb9

pw is whatisthis

Thank you so much

This just isn't a logical progression of thinking in terms of the acquisition of genital herpes.  This isn't how this happens.  You've had a professional see your symptoms and they don't think it is herpes and you've had negative PCR swabs from the area of concern.  You need to believe both that there was no risk of transmission from the experience you had and the clinicians and swabs that tell you this isn't HSV

Terri

The pictures show a small 2-3mm oval red bump with red surrounding skin on the shaft (without hair). A day later the raised bump was gone and there was a small, shallow raw spot. This evolved into a "cut," and the skin around it flaked away and healed from the outside in. I don't see how this could be anything but HSV. I think I got a false negative PCR swab because it was done after the bump was gone and it was not very thorough. From what I read, nobody really knows how herpes spreads in the primary infection. I read that people can get extragenital lesions 2 weeks after a primary lesion, and it's unclear if it is directly inoculated or spreads through the nerves.

My theory is that someone scratched my cleft or I spread an HSV1 or occult HSV2 infection from my mouth to that spot, when then resulted in my first penile sore EVER a few days after the primary gluteal rash. And I will soon seroconvert. Is that possible?

What is your opinion on the penile shaft lesion? Have you ever seen anything like what I just described be anything other than herpes?

So let me see if I have this right :  you think you had a false negative HSV 2 antibody test, a false negative PCR, and an erroneous clinical impression from more than one clinician?  I doubt that very much.  But it sounds to me like you aren't going to be convinced of any of this so I'm not going to try.  I don't believe that what you have is herpes and I don't know what it might be.

Terri