[Question #1301] Do I have herpes ?
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101 months ago
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I had an unprotected sexual encounter with a woman last year.
I never had an sores around my genital areas or mouth.
In june this year I visited a place and was bitten by midges. And this probably caused a lot of sores on my body and i recovered after some time. Two others who were with me also had sores but not as much as i had. I again had a few sores this month on my hand and when i was searching about this on the internet I had come across the possibility of herpes. I consulted two skin specialists and they told this do not look like herpes. Since I wanted to be doubly sure about this, I went and did an IgG and IgM test. The test results were equivocal and the Activity Index(AI) results were as follows.
Herpes Simplex 1 (IgG) : 0.9 AI
Herpes Simplex 1 (IgM) : 0.4 AI
Herpes Simplex 1 (IgG) : 0.9 AI
Herpes Simplex 1 (IgM) : 0.4 AI
Herpes Simplex 2 (IgG) : 1 AI
Herpes Simplex 2 (IgM): 0.3 AI
The lab report reference says <0.9 is Negative, 0.9 to 1.1 is Equivocal, >1.1 is positive.
I am worried and confused by the results. Do I have herpes 1 or 2 ?
The lab report reference says <0.9 is Negative, 0.9 to 1.1 is Equivocal, >1.1 is positive.
I am worried and confused by the results. Do I have herpes 1 or 2 ?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
101 months ago
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Midges? What are midglts, pay attention to the IgG results only, not the IgM. In looking at your results, the HSV 2 result is technically equivocal, not positive. In order to fully understand your results I would need to know the date of your last sexual contact? If you have recently had a sex partner, you could have this value because you are in the process of going from negative to positive. let me know
Terri
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Terri
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101 months ago
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I have since had sex only with my wife and she does not have herpes. My last sexual contact was sometime this month with my wife.
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101 months ago
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You asked about midges. I was bitten by the highland midges.
“The highland midge is a species of small flying insect, only found in upland and lowland areas (fens, bogs and marshes) of the north west of Scotland and northern Wales from late spring to late summer. Similar insects are also found in suitable habitat throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia, other regions of Europe, Russia and Northern China. Female Highland midges are well known for gathering in clouds and biting humans”
Also just to clarify my answer, ever since my unprotected sexual encounter with another woman, I have since had sex only with my wife. She does not have herpes. My last sexual contact was sometime early this month with my wife.
“The highland midge is a species of small flying insect, only found in upland and lowland areas (fens, bogs and marshes) of the north west of Scotland and northern Wales from late spring to late summer. Similar insects are also found in suitable habitat throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia, other regions of Europe, Russia and Northern China. Female Highland midges are well known for gathering in clouds and biting humans”
Also just to clarify my answer, ever since my unprotected sexual encounter with another woman, I have since had sex only with my wife. She does not have herpes. My last sexual contact was sometime early this month with my wife.
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
101 months ago
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OK, I get it now about the midges.
Can you tell when exactly you had sex with the woman who was not your wife? I am trying to sort out the dates to know if you waiting long enough after having sex with her to get an accurate HSV test result. Thanks!
Terri
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Can you tell when exactly you had sex with the woman who was not your wife? I am trying to sort out the dates to know if you waiting long enough after having sex with her to get an accurate HSV test result. Thanks!
Terri
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101 months ago
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I had sex with the other woman in November of last year (2015). It has been around 11 months.
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101 months ago
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Hello Terri,
Just to put all the information that I have given in a single post, I am making this post.
November 2015 : I had unprotected sex with a woman(who was not my wife).
Just to put all the information that I have given in a single post, I am making this post.
November 2015 : I had unprotected sex with a woman(who was not my wife).
June 2016 : I visited a place and was bitten by midges. And this probably caused a lot of sores on my body and i recovered after some time. Two others who were with me also had sores but not as much as i had. When i searched on the internet I happened to think of herpes. I met a doctor and he confirmed this to be insect bite.
October 2016 : I again have sores on my hand but not anywhere else. My fears of herpes came back. I met two doctors(skin specialists) and they both confirmed that this is not herpes. To these two doctors I described my full sexual history including the one with the other woman.
October 2016 : Since I wanted to be doubly sure, I tested for IgG and my results were equivocal for HSV1 and 2. HSV 1 with Activity Index 0.9 and HSV 2 with Activity Index 1.0.
Between November 2015 and now I have had sex only with my wife and she does not have Herpes. The last sexual contact with my wife being sometime early this month. Another important point is that I have never had sores around my genital areas or mouth.
I am confused by my IgG results. Do I have Herpes ?
October 2016 : I again have sores on my hand but not anywhere else. My fears of herpes came back. I met two doctors(skin specialists) and they both confirmed that this is not herpes. To these two doctors I described my full sexual history including the one with the other woman.
October 2016 : Since I wanted to be doubly sure, I tested for IgG and my results were equivocal for HSV1 and 2. HSV 1 with Activity Index 0.9 and HSV 2 with Activity Index 1.0.
Between November 2015 and now I have had sex only with my wife and she does not have Herpes. The last sexual contact with my wife being sometime early this month. Another important point is that I have never had sores around my genital areas or mouth.
I am confused by my IgG results. Do I have Herpes ?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
101 months ago
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Sometimes lab tests aren't just 100% clear and this is one of those times. You 1.0 on the HSV 2 is in the equivocal range - not positive and not negative. However, the other information you have given me sorts it out. . Since you have not had sex with anyone except your wife in almost one year now, I believe that you can feel confident that your HSV 2 result is not positive. You are also asymptomatic genitally and orally. It is my feeling that if you were infected with herpes, your test results would be well above 1.1 (the cut off for positive) by now.
Terri
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Terri
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