[Question #10394] HSV-2 Query
23 months ago
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Thank you for all the work and help you do, it is a god send.
I am a male, and had unprotected vaginal and received oral sex with two venue-based strippers in Thailand on June 13 and June 17. I have had conclusive negative tests for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphillis, HIV, and hep B, and had no symptoms other than genital itching (I have bad eczema and have itched my genitals excessively all my life) at the time of these encounters, I don't believe I had any open wounds caused by itching, lube was used both times, and a condom was used for majority of one of the encounters.
1. I've seen on here and other sites that the probability of getting HSV-2 female to male in a single encounter per person is quite low, could I please have some clarification on this? (some stats I've seen are 0.3-0.7%, 1.7/1000 rates of transmission)
2. I understand some or most people are asymptomatic (this isn't clear online), but is this likely for both me and my current partner to both show no symptoms after 3 months should we have HSV-2? (my current partner has complained of UTI which she has had many times before, she also has had late periods by 2-3 weeks since, which isn't uncommon for her but never this long)
3. I have ordered an IgG HSV 1 and 2 blood test, but I am worried about the chances of false positives for HSV-2, I am hoping I will get the figures to check this, but what should I look out for?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
23 months ago
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We honestly don't have any really good statistics on this. The concern about oral sex is HSV 1, not HSV 2. And the risk of a single encounter is indeed very low - any actual numbers are really guesses when it comes to contacts such as yours. We know more about the risk of transmission between couples who have been together for a while.
A long period for your partner is NOT a symptoms of herpes and UTI symptoms that she had before and also has now is unlikely to be herpes.
If you get a positive on your IGG test, post it here and I will help you sort out what to do next. If it is positive, I would need to know the number associated with that positive result please.
Terri
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