[Question #11708] HSV Testing
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12 months ago
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I received unprotected oral sex & kissed high risk. Took Doxypep. 2 days later I had a fever, lymph node pain, muscle aches. Tested positive COVID-19. I had a sore throat and had nasal congestion/mucus. Day 9 I had redness at the tip of my penis (no sores but my urethra inflamed) and my lymph nodes hurt. Day 10, I didn’t have pain when urinating but it felt how it feels if I get powder in my urethra, v. mild burn and itch. I had v. frequent urination & had more urine in my urethra hole that leaked. Seemed to be pee, did not smell and was clear. Day 12, I still had redness and I saw some white, grey and a little red, not sores but just white, grey, red looking skin inside my urethra. I got a thorough STI screening that including UTI, candida, HPV, HSV1 & 2 swab tests, and blood tests. I urinated an hour before the urine test was taken. The HSV swab tests were taken by swabbing urethra since I had no typical sores. Everything came back negative except HPV-42. The HSV 1&2 blood antigen tests were (.003 COI and .108 COI) and the swab test was negative. On day 17, I started taking double strength Bactrim. It’s day 18, have the red at tip of penis but it seems to come and go. I have the feeling when I pee and can feel my lymph nodes. I have a scratchy throat and no fever. Did I test too soon? Could the swab test be a false negative bc I didn’t have an open sore? Was it too soon to do blood tests? How likely do you think I could have contracted HSV? Can I do another blood test to be more certain? What could have contracted?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
12 months ago
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HSV seems unlikely here, but you did to an antibody test too soon for accuracy after the sexual encounter. I would recommend that you wait at least 6 weeks, preferably 8 weeks, to do another IgG test. But remember, there is a high risk of false positives on that test. You reported seeing white, gray, red looking skin inside the urethra. Herpes lesions can look white in the urethra, so good a swab inside was done and good that it was negative! Yes, a swab test can be falsely negative if no virus was present in the lesion.
Terri
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12 months ago
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Thanks, the white inside urethra seems to have gone away. I have no pain but tip of penis is still red and I can feel my lymph nodes still. Wouldn’t herpes in urethra be very painful? It’s 19 days out now. First symptoms started 11 days ago and never seemed to progress. Is it possible that it is fungal?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
12 months ago
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Yes, herpes in the urethra is quite painful. I suspect you were seeing something completely different. I don't know if it could be fungal but the provider who did the swab probably would have an opinion about that.
If you still want to rule out herpes, you could do the IgG test again in 6 weeks from the contact, but remember, it has lots of false positives.
terri
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