Herpes Testing

[fiatjusticia]

I have a question that hopefully someone can help me with. I lost my virginity to a guy last March who had slept with 3 women before me (one was a girlfriend of 2 years, one he had sex with for about 5 minutes with a condom on, and one was a one-time unprotected sexual encounter with a girl he had known for a while). Of particular concern to me is his ex-girlfriend, who slept with 14 men before him. He lost his virginity to her 2 years ago. After learning about his ex girlfriend's sexual history, I freaked out and stopped sleeping with him, and waited about 8.5 weeks after our last unprotected sexual encounter, which was also about 15 weeks past our first sexual encounter, to get a blood test for HSV-2. If it matters, we had sex a total of 19 times, 7 of which were protected with a condom. The blood test came back negative. He was never tested for herpes and neither was his ex. I've never had any symptoms of herpes (which I know doesn't mean anything) but he has had recurring itching in his genital and armpit area that he said he's had all his life but that I find very suspicious (though his doctor said it was heat rash/jock itch).

I never got a follow up blood test, in part because I was strongly admonished against it by my GP, who said that my relatively low risk history put me at risk for a false positive that might send me into a tailspin. I have diagnosed hypochondriasis that I'm receiving treatment for, but sometimes the thought wanders into my head to get a re-test. Its been 8 months since we last had sex. Lately I've been particularly worried. What do you guys think? Should I get retested, given my ex's suspicious itching and his ex gf's sexual history? He is the only person I've ever been with.

Thanks!

[txr890]

Concur- get a HSV1 and 2 IgG test via blood.  Easy to purchase, can get them online at a variety of places and go to a Labcorp for the specimen draw.

In addition, find a "Biokit HSV2" if you want an up or down HSV2 result in 10 minutes.  Various clinics will have these, but you may have to call around and be persistent. I found someone who knew about it at an infectious disease specialist practice after getting bounced around by a urologist.

Your GP can go pound sand, this is your body.  I am facing exposure to someone whose doctor should have known that she was at particular risk of HSV1 and HSV2 as she was a sex worker, unbeknownst to me.  The doctors only tested her for "fatal" STDs such as Hep and HIV, but never HSV, which anyone with a brain knows is transmissible even with condoms.  So, pardon me if I have an exceedingly dim view of what any doctor says at this point.

[worryman297]

Your 8.5 week test was 80% accurate if it was a type specifi IgG Hsv2& hsv1 test

[worryman297]

%8 chance that you would catch it. Get him and yourself tested if you  want extra reassurance.

[worryman297]

You can get an hsv2 test again and he should too. The only way to confirm is to get a hsv2 type specific IgG test 12-16 weeks after last encounter. If he is negative then there is nothing to ben concerned about. Your doctor is right your not likely to have anything but even id you get a false positive which would be less than 3.5 in numerical value in kost test you can retest and confirm. I suggest your partner gets tested before you worry about anything. Armpit itching is not related itching occurs in all humans. One encounters are extremely low risk for herpes and even people have sex 15 years and not get it. If someone has sex with a hsv2 person for a year 3 times a week without condoms the chance you wpuld catch it is