Worried about Herpes infection after a very brief recieptive unprotected oral

[Hope1391]

Dear All, I am a Male, 29 yrs old. Exactly 7 weeks ago I had visited a Massage Spa and received unprotected oral from the masseuse for a brief moment of 15-20secs and it was not deep either and no intercourse or whatsoever occurred. I have history of fungal infection on groin area,I never treated for it before, I had and have severe Itching in my anal region and it has gone up until perineal area. 4weeks ago I started using topical ointment that doctor prescribed,the itch has reduced however one day it itched severely on the perineal region ( area just below the scrotum) and I scratched it a bit more. Lately I noticed some red rash and it became tender, however no pain, no blister, no sore,no pus. I consulted doctor and he said it looks like HSV and he advised HSV testing. But he said chances are 0.01% just to clear doubts I have given my blood sample for type specific HSV 1&2  IgG and IgM tests. Could someone please tell me if my symptom is related to HSV.

[auntiejessi]

I agree with your doctor - the chances are very, very low that this is herpes from this encounter. The contact was so brief that I'd be really surprised if it resulted in herpes transmission.

To be clear, when you receive oral sex, you are at risk for genital herpes type 1. This is the virus that causes cold sores on your mouth. The number indicates the strain of the virus, not the location.

If you've ever had a cold sore, you will test positive for hsv1. This doesn't mean that you have genital herpes type 1. Did they do a culture or swab on your genital symptoms?

The IgM test is designed to look for antibodies that look for new infections. It's not reliable for herpes infections, and shouldn't be used on anyone but newborns. Ignore whatever it says - act like you didn't have it. There's just no way of knowing if it's accurate, and it's wrong at least as often as it's right.

A lot of fungal infections can look like herpes, so try not to worry.

[Hope1391]

@auntiejessi, thanks much for your reply. no swab test was done. Forgot to mention I initially consulted andrologist online I shared him the images of the affected area and he informed it's perineal fungal infection and not HSV at all, i never had oral sores because I did not have any outside relationship. This one encounter that I made by mistake is worrying me alot. I gave my blood test yesterday and awaiting result. I hope it's negative, I'm praying.

[auntiejessi]

Many people get oral hsv1 as kids, from well-intentioned adults who kiss us, or from other kids we share toys with, etc. It might not have anything to do with an outside relationship. Also, 90% of those with oral hsv1 never get symptoms.

So a docs said it was fungal and you have a history of that. Seems pretty likely that's what this is. I see no reason to worry about herpes. Your risk was so low and you have a history of fungal infections in the area.

Remember that guilt doesn't equal risk.

[Hope1391]

Dear Auntiejessi, I got my results please see below:

Reference range:

Negative:  1.1

HSV-1 (Herpes Simplex Virus-1) IgG Positive(1.19)
HSV-1 (Herpes Simplex Virus-1) IgM Negative(0.25)
HSV-2 (Herpes Simplex Virus-2) IgG Negative(0.76)
HSV-2 (Herpes Simplex Virus-2)- IgM Negative(0.21)

I consulted my doctor who's an andrologist and he said that positive HSV-1 is because of chicken pox I had during my childhood. Even in the lab report it's mentioned that there are chances of false positive and they have advised to take western blot to confirm, However my doctor told me that's not needed because it resulted in positive because of herpes zoster which causes shingles. I never had any cold sores since my childhood as far as I remember. I am married since 2 yrs and my wife also never had any cold sores (if I had it since cold sores. Could you please let me know if l can just ignore this like my doctor advised and move on with my life. Thank you much for your advice.

[Hope1391]

Please see below the reference range below from the lab report.
Negative:  1.1

[Hope1391]

For some reason I am not able to paste the complete reference range. Please let me know your opinion from the above.

[auntiejessi]

Your hsv1 result is a really low positive, and could easily be a false positive. If you want to confirm it with a western blot, you can, but that's time consuming and expensive, and in my opinion, unneeded. If you do have hsv1, it's likely a pre-existing oral infection, and it won't change a thing about your life. It's more likely a false positive.

In any case, I agree with your doctor and if it were me, I'd just move on. :)

[Hope1391]

Thank you so much for your reply. Appreciate it. :)