[Question #2922] HSV

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93 months ago
Following up to 2884
Hi Terri, apologies for a quick follow up.  I did see a doc who generally agreed with your assessment.   I’m still feeling general burning and itching and developed a couple of additional bumps.  One in my pubic area which looks like another pimple (the doc thought it was a pimple too) and another (which I didn’t show the doc) on my butt.  The one on the butt seemed like a pimple or it could have been a blister.  It stings a little and can’t really make it out.  I’m just curious if, in your experience, an outbreak would present this way.  I know you said earlier that you would expect lesions on the shaft but between the general burning and itch and these pimples or whatever just feels like something is up.  (Just to be clear, during the sexual encounter, there was really no contact with the pubic area or my butt.  The vaginal intercourse was short and I was positioned behind her.).   Could an outbreak sprout in an area where there was no contact?  Thank you. 
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
93 months ago
No,  I don't believe that an outbreak would appear in the way that you are describing.  I'm so glad you had an opportunity to be seen in person and have one of your bumps evaluated by a clinician.  In my experience, buttocks outbreaks are quite dramatic with multiple quite painful larger blisters grouped together.  This is nothing like what you are describing.  No, I would expect any initial outbreak to be on the penis shaft, not in the locations are you describing here.

Terri
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93 months ago
Thank you, Terri.   I actually just heard from the doc and the culture came back negative so that’s good news.  I don’t believe it was a PCR test and I know from what I’ve read from the forum and Dr HHH that cultures can sometimes have false negatives.  I wouldn’t be worried if I didn’t have a few of these pimples and the burning / itchy feeling in that area, but given that would you recommend blood tests?  I also know this could be anxiety so maybe best to let this go.  Thanks again.  
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
93 months ago
You could do an IgG antibody test if you can't stop worrying about that or even better, a herpes western blot.  Doing the western blot would eliminate any possibility of a false positive with the IgG but is more money and a bit more complicated to acquire, though it can certainly be done.  The rate of false positives at my practice was about 3%, but all low positives (1.1 to 3.5 on the IgG test) need confirmation.  Again, in our practice, about 6% of those tested by IgG came back in the low positive range - half of those were false positives compared to the gold standard western blot.  Just wanted to give you a bit more information on testing to help you make that decision.

Good news that the swab test was positive, even if a culture.

Terri
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