[Question #9617] Positive blood test, no blisters, weird symptoms
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31 months ago
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About 12 days ago a woman gave me a handjob and briefly oral sex—both without a condom. The next day I received painful (tooth) oral sex with a condom, handjob and briefly inserted the head of my penis with a condom on.
The day after my penis was still sore and the foreskin was slightly puffy. I also had a slight discomfort on the skin of my penis and when I peed— A week later when the symptoms persisted with testicle pain, I decided to get a full STD panel. I was negative for all of the major STD except for HSV-2. The hHG test was a high positive (6.4). Of course I started researching and now I am even more confused.
- Is it possible that I tested positive 8-9 days after the exposure mentioned above or would it likely be from an older experience?
- Today is now day 12 and I still have penile sensitivity, foreskin still slightly swollen, and I have slight itching that comes and goes. My testicles feel like somebody gave them a slight squeeze and my entire package is sensitive to my boxers. I also get an itchy or tingly sensation that comes and comes under my butt cheeks, back of legs, and lower back. I have no red spots or blisters/bubbles. Are these herpes symptoms or something else? Crazy thing here is that I had all of these symptoms in 2016 after a condom break—but tested negative for HSV 2 several times over the years since.
- If I am negative for other STDs but have no lesions or bumps, are these still herpes symptoms?
- I also have been terribly upset since this happened and haven’t eaten anything the past few days, haven’t been sleeping, feel my insides pulsating, headache, periods of feeling cold and almost having chills. I can’t stop thinking about this.
- Is there any point in retesting?First test was Labcorps
Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Types 1 and 2-Specific Antibodies, IgG With Reflex to Supplemental HSV-2 Testing
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
30 months ago
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If the 6.4 actually represents an HSV 2 infection, it is not from the exposures that you describe above. Way too soon for an index value that high. it is also possible that this is a false positive - I have seen false positives as high as 17 and regularly see them in people who test in the 3-7 range. If you have never had symptoms, you might consider a confirmatory test. I don't know if these are herpes symptoms or not, but they certainly aren't classic symptoms.
I realize this is a traumatic diagnosis and hard to absorb, and I'm so sorry to be late in answering your post. I'm in Vietnam and expected to have better internet where we are staying than we actually do. Do you live in the US? If yes, you should consider doing the herpes western blot. When did you last test negative for HSV 2 by antibody test?
Terri
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30 months ago
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Hi Terri
I am in the US and last tested negative in 2019 but I don’t get tested regularly for herpes since I have never had blisters or symptoms. For the Western Blot I believe only certain labs near me will draw the blood for the lab in Washington state and that I need a doctors order. Do i see an infectious disease doctor for that?
The company that sold me the test service emailed after the results and wanted me to take a “confirmation test” with healthlabs.com for $150 but when I don’t click the link the company provided and just search for herpes test on the same site the test costs $45. Is a “confirmation test” something different from a regular IgG test? Why is this test $100 more on the same site and not in the search results (can only access from a link sent?)
If the 6.4 is older than the exposure listed above, is there anyway to know “how old” a 6.4 would be?
Lastly, are you recommending the reconfirmation AND a WB or just the WB?
Just to update the above info; I was having consistent pain in both testicles and discomfort when I pee. I also felt discomfort in my perineum and anus briefly if I push hard when urinating. I went to the ER and had an ultrasound on my testicles and another urine test. Everything was normal. They then did a urine test for chlamydia which was also negative. I received a script for doxycycline for 10 days in case of inflammation and Epididymitis even though the tests showed no infection.
Thoughts?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
30 months ago
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The western blot IS the confirmatory test that I and the CDC recommend. If you do the blot through us, we provide the lab requsition with the physician information filled out and we can recommend a location near you. Where do you live?
If the 6.4 is accurate, we cannot know how long you've been infected.
I would NOT take another kind of confirmatory test - they are all troubled by false positives
Terri
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30 months ago
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I would be interested in pursuing a western blot test and will probably ask for your help.
That aside, I still don’t understand how if my test was a “false positive” it wouldn’t be a different result if I took another IGG test? I doubt I would have back-to-back false positives if the test is supposed to be 85-90% accurate, right? I would think the test wouldn’t be used if it were wrong that often. I would also be curious to understand what about my body would make a test generate a false result more than once. Thoughts?
Related, but separate. It seems like if I am indeed positive—and the number indicates the infection is older—-I am curious how I could have been infected. I only had protected vaginal or unprotected oral encounters—with the exception of a long term partner since my last negative test a few years ago. How likely is it to get HSV-2 from a handjob/protected oral from casual partners? Does this imply the long term partner is the culprit since we did not use condoms? If the text can be a “false positive” would it also be plausible the infection is real, but the number is lower than 6.4? In other words, how sure can I be the infection didn’t come from encounters from the original question?
Lastly, based on other responses I see from the team on this site, is it accurate that you all believe visiting massage parlors/escorts is low risk, provided a condom is used for vaginal/anal sex and handjobs and oral sex (received) are low risk for STD even without a condom?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
30 months ago
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I don't know where you got the statistic that the test is 85-90% accurate. At your number, that might be close to accurate. But if the value of the test is below 3.5, about half of those are false positives and false positives remain so with repeated tests. You don't get HSV 2 from a handjob or from receiving oral sex - that's HSV 1 from oral sex. If accurate, it could have come from a long term partner, yes. If the test is accurate, you didn't get it from the experience you described.
I think we would all agree that you don't get an STI from a handjob or massage parlors UNLESS there is penetrative sex or oral sex without a condom. You don't get HSV 2 from receiving oral sex in any real world. But you can get HSV 1, the cold sore virus. You can also get other STI's from receiving oral sex though far less commonly than from penetrative intercourse.
Terri
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