Background: I had a herpes scare in regards to GHSV1. I ended up testing negative at around 8 weeks after the encounter, give or take a few days. 

1. My pcp examined my area of concern and said she did not think it looked like herpes at all. 

2. I researched and even on the UW website, it said it can take 2 months for antibodies to appear. So this made me think that 8 weeks was enough time to take the WB and my pcp ordered it for me. 

3. Upon further research I now realize that I should have waited 12 weeks. 

My questions are: 

*How accurate would a negative WB be at 8 weeks out vs 12 weeks? Percentage wise?

*Do you think I should retake, or can I be somewhat confident in my 8 weeks results? It was expensive and I’d hate to have to pay for it again, but would for sure repeat if you thought necessary. 

*My pcp said that she would have at least expected an indeterminate result by 8 weeks if I were infected during my last sexual encounter. Do you agree with this? 

*is it true that most people seroconvert by 8-10 weeks?

*Does red/irritated/cracked skin with no visible blisters or evidence of ulcers on the thicker, non-genital skin, of the groin area, sound herpetic? 

1.  That's good!

2.  As you know, UW recommends 12 weeks, but I would say that most people seroconvert from negative to positive by 8-10 weeks.

3.  We don't know the difference between accuracy at 8 vs. 12 weeks

4.  I would agree that you would have at least an indeterminate at 8 weeks if you were going to be positive at 12 weeks, assuming you are not taking daily antiviral medication.

5.  Simply having red skin in the genital area of a female does not, by itself, sound herpetic

Terri

One more thing, I took an igg at 10 weeks out just out of nervousness and it was negative for HSV1. I know it’s possible it can miss positives, but do you think this speaks to me truly being negative? 

Terri