[Question #4165] HSV-2 Uncertainty

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84 months ago

Hi there! When I was in college about ten years ago, like an idiot, I cheated on my former girlfriend by having unprotected sex with another girl from school. Unfortunately,  have it.  considering I had never had an outbreak before, I could be confident I didn'er I have it or I don'ully would get colI’m unable to accurately remember all the specifics, but approximately a week afterwards, my girlfriend starts having symptoms of genital herpes. She goes to her doctor’s office, where they test and confirm it is HSV-2. As to which test they performed, I’m not sure. Once she informed me, I immediately assumed it must have come from my irresponsible actions. However, about a year or so afterwards, I find out from her friend that she was messing around with another guy who supposedly has herpes around the same time I cheated. I can’t honestly say what they did or did not do, as she refused to ever admit it. During the time of her initial outbreak, I never had any lesions on the shaft of my penis or anything that closely resembled a typical outbreak. I did have what appeared to be infected/ingrown hairs in my pubic region, which I just attributed to having lots of sex. Since I didn’t have the typical lesions, I waited 6-8 months before going to my doctor to be tested. I told him what had happened, and he orders a full STI panel blood test. Surprisingly, everything came back negative. He stated: “he couldn’t explain the previous infection, but I didn’t have HSV-2.” About two years after that, I had another blood test performed at Planned Parenthood, where again, the results came back negative. Given that its been almost ten years and no outbreaks, can I still safely assume I don’t have HSV-2? I’m worried that my two test results were somehow false negatives or my body never underwent seroconversion. Should I have another blood test done? I’m about to get married soon, and I don’t want to ever accidentally infect my wife.

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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
83 months ago
I don't know what sexual activity you might've had between your last negative test and now, but if you have had none, I think that you should believe the negative antibody test with 92% certainty. The IgG test picks up 92% of HSV-2 infections compared to the gold standard herpes Western blot. It would appear that you have had no further symptoms foreign thinking that you would have mentioned it. I think there is a strong likelihood that you are not infected with HSV-2.

Terri
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83 months ago
Hi Terri,

Thanks for your reply. It is somewhat encouraging you think there is a strong likelihood I am not infected with HSV-2. Since you stated "I think that you should believe the negative antibody test with 92% certainty," I wanted to ask what would you do if you were in my position? Again, the last thing I want is to infect my future wife. 

Thanks again in advance for your guidance. I think this forum is a wonderful platform that helps people such as me.  
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
83 months ago
OK, so you asked what I would do in your situation. I would probably obtain the Western blot given that my partner came down with HSV-2 and infection one week after having sex with me. But I'm pretty conservative about these things so you might want consider that when reading my response. I do understand that she was also having sex with another person but I think I would want to have a little more certainty then you have right now. But again, that's just me

Terri
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