Hope all is well. Haven’t been on here in a year. had a few updates/follow up. After my indeterminate HSV1 western blot test last year, we talked about assuming i was neg until/if i ever had symptoms and to retest after 3 months. Taking the blot was both very expensive and difficult out here on the east coast with finding a lab and shipping. so instead i took the regular HSV1 igg test after 3 months, that i had done so many times before. it was neg. i took it again about another month later just to double check. also negative. i know it’s only 70% accurate but felt confident if i took it twice, with more time in between, it would be pretty telling that i wasn’t actually positive. i have had no sores to report of and it’s been over a year since that initial situation. in my heart I feel that i only took the blot because of my OCD. at this point, with so many tests and lack of oral or genital symptoms, do you think it would be fair/reasonable for me to continue on without anymore testing or worrying about this issue/talking to partners about it? since then i had been with someone who had a history of oral cold sores, so if i tested again i feel like it could be positive and i wouldn’t be able to know if i had it orally or genitalia. most likely just orally. any thoughts? hope all is well. 

The thing is, the IgG test misses 30% of HSV 1 infections, so I'm afraid I cannot say that if you have negative HSV 1 tests now that you don't have HSV 1.  You could decide that since almost 50% of the adult population of the US has HSV 1 infection, that you are not going to worry about it.  .  Do you think that you could let go of your worry without doing another blot?  I can say that I've yet to see an indeterminate become a positive UNLESS someone has tested sooner than 12 weeks after a concerning encounter OR in someone who has not taken more than 2 weeks of antiviral medicine.  What do you think?

Terri

I think just being cautious is just fine, and not doing the blot.  I seriously doubt that you have HSV 1 infection but if you have something remarkable show up, get it swab tested, not just a little red bump but something blistery.  OK?

Terri