Is this possible?

[jabele]

So here is my story. I am a lesbian who has never had P-V sex. Never. I have given blowjobs in my past and received oral sex. I have been in a monogamous relationship for the last 12 years. My partner gets oral cold sores since she was a kid. Unfortunately after our very first encounter, she had a cold sore healing and started to get symptoms of herpes. I got tested and swabbed repeatedly for years and always negative. To be honest I didn’t believe it because the recurrent anal bump fissure I get always recurs occasionally in the same area and my lymph node swells up. Despite the repeat negatives i eventually accepted the reality I may have hsv1 and moved on. If my partner has cold sores its not life ending and I moved past the stigma. I went years without symptoms and recently had a ‘recurrence.’ So i was curious and went to the gyno for a swab and bloodwork bc I was curious to see if I would finally show up positive for type 1. The swab was honestly taken too late for me to trust it and am waiting on results which i can share. HOWEVER I got a shocking call with the lady telling me I am negative hsv1 and positive hsv2. I asked the value and she said 1.73. I asked if it could be wrong and explained that it made no sense and it must be hsv1. I was able to get eyes on the results and saw indeed i am positive 1.73 on Hsv2 igg, negative Hsv1 and hsv2 supplemental was negative (LABCORP). I have since read your blog that its false positive range and theres a solid chance its wrong. i read 50/50 false positive in the 1.1 to 3.5 range which I fall in. Does the negative supplemental give any reassurance its wrong? Honestly I cannot figure out how i ever would have gotten HSV2. Was tested in the early stages of my relationship with my partner and was negative and she is hsv2 negative the last she checked

[auntiejessi]

Yes, the supplemental test being negative means that you don't have hsv2.

A 1.73 probably is higher than a 50/50 chance of being negative - the 50/50 is anything below a 3.5. The lower the number, the higher the chance it's a false positive.

Given that your partner is negative, you were negative at the start of your relationship, that you're a lesbian (women who have sex with women have lower rates of STDs overall, just given the nature of sexual activities), and that you'd never had PIV sex, I'd have been very surprised if you had hsv2.

I'm sorry you've gone through this, but you can relax now.

[jabele]

Thank you so much, i really really appreciate that. So i posted the same thing to Terri Warren on her site and she said basically the same thing but not as convincing as you lol. She said its "There is probably a 75-80% chance that this is a false positive, perhaps even higher with no penetrative intercourse." I responded then about the supplemental being negative and she said thag it’s great the supplemental is negative but not absolutely definitive and she would recommend the blot. I think i was hoping she would also tell me its impossible and I need to move on...perhaps she can't? The "I need validation this is wrong" is running strong right now because I am totally thrown off and the woman on the phone with the results acted like my test results were gospel. I also have had awful experiences with misdiagnoses so the validation of being Ok is high. I can do the blot, sure, but we are social distancing etc. If its not certain i surely can.  Thoughts maybe on why she still recommends the blot? Maybe because she cant know for sure i am truthful on history? Im just shocked by this whole thing.

[jabele]

one other question on this. I got a little freaked out when I was reading old threads on here by Dr. Handsfield where he said that low positives are basically only false positives if you have HSV1. While I honestly believe I have that and that the IGGs continue to miss it (I know they can), I have no proof I have that, making me more fearful it's correct even though it makes no sense. I set up with Terri for a WB and am going to try to do a repeat labcorp IGG but not sure when I'll know. In the meantime I am stewed a bit...

[auntiejessi]

We used to think that false positives were far more likely in those with hsv1. We have since come to find out that it can happen to anyone who gets a result less than 3.5. It seems to be a bit more likely if you have hsv1, but that's just from my experience here, anecdotally.

I'm kind of surprised Terri said that about getting the WB. The supplemental test done by Quest and LabCorp is fairly new, so maybe she isn't sure of that yet. The people I've talked to that have the WB and the supplemental being negative end up negative on the WB as well.

Terri is a medical professional, a researcher. She is going to be precise and rely on data more so than others like me might.

I wouldn't be surprised if you have hsv1. The IgG misses 30% of those infections. (Herpes testing needs some improvements, huh?)

Can you call the lab and ask them what kind of precautions they are taking now? Lots of places are doing things like having patients wait in cars until it's their turn so you aren't waiting in a room full of people,. Their techs are wearing masks, etc. Maybe you can make an appt for the first slot of the day, where the lab hasn't been exposed to a hundred people already?

[jabele]

Thsnk you SO much, you made me feel so much better.  I was surprised too she wasnt more like this MUST be wrong, lol. Yeah im going to in the short term redo the labcorp and see what it says. I did set up an evisit with her for 4/7. If labcorp is negative I may skip the blot but I also would love to see if the blot would pick up hsv1 because i honestly think that I have. Even if she didnt give me GHsv1 which i suspect, after 12 years of kissing my partner I would think I would at least have it orally. Feels like the test had me completely reversed.

Thank you so much though, you made me feel better. Ill let you know what happens with labcorp take 2 and also possibly the blot

[auntiejessi]

I'm glad I helped.

The tests aren't perfect (clearly). They miss 30% of hsv1 infections, and give a lot of false positives on hsv2. It can make things really messy, to say the least.

Keep me posted, for sure!