Interpreting test results

[tvn300]

I am a 66 year old married male and I have been in a committed marriage for 12 years, and to the best of my knowledge, never had an outbreak until last month.  Postule on my shaft.  I had a IgG blood test and the results came back positive and with extremely confusing results.  I repeated the test, hoping to clarify, but got the same confusing results.  

The test showed I tested VERY positive for HSV-1 (19.40 on a scale that says anything over 1.09 is positive)
It also showed I tested VERY positive for HSV-2 (23.60 on the same scale).
It also showed I tested VERY positive for shingles (Varicella Zoster Abs IgG/Igm) >4000 on a scale where a reading of >165 is positive.
Finally, it showed I tested VERY positive for Varicella-Zoster Ab IgM. (8.88 on a scale that says anything over 1.09 is positive.)

The dermatologist said these results are extremely confusing and thought it would be worthwhile to pursue this with a Infectious disease doctor.

I don't ever remember any outbreak, other than the recent few red marks on my shaft and one postule on my shaft a few weeks ago. I have not had sex outside my marriage. My wife states the same and I believe her.

Can anyone here offer any insights on these test results?  With the numbers so high, I would think that I'd be more likely to have symptoms that the antibodies are fighting off.  But I NEVER get mouth sores, and I've only had the one genital episode.

I'm not sure if this means I have both types of herpes AND shingles?  Maybe I should just be grateful I'm not riddled with symptoms.

TIA for any and all help.

Tom

[Fleetwood20]

I have to agree, I find absolutely nothing unusual about your results at all.

You very clearly have both HSV1 and HSV2, as some 10% of the population does in the US, including me.

Also, many people have the chicken pox virus and/or have had a vaccination such that antibodies would be detected.

The numbers are not relevant beyond indicating a normal immune system at work. IgG antibodies are only one of about 100 different aspects of your immune system response to HSV. Alone, IgG antibodies do not prevent outbreaks hence the 'strength' or otherwise of these in our body is not reflective of outbreak frequency.

[Life360_Dave]

Hi Tom, theres nothing mysterious about the findings. You have hsv1 and hsv2. Many people never have outbreaks and from the high numbers youve had both for quite a while. We dont use igm but if you ever had chicken pox or the vaccine at youth, the antibodies would show up in a blood test as antibodies are permanant.