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Avatar universal

HSV2 transmission - follow up and final question

Hi Drs. Hook and Handsfield

You both have been incredibly helpful, in fact when Dr. Hook compared my odds to the specificifity of the IGG test, after a day, it largely reduced my concerns.

Since this is my last message (I understand you get to post only 2 messages a month), I hope you can also help me through this final concern.

Although I had a cursory glance at the outside of my ex partner’s genitals, I did not quite make an inspection for lesions, for example, I did not finger her vagina or anything of that sort.

1) How much does the existence of lesions on her genitals change your assessment? I have read a lot of the already posted questions in the past 6 months and I see two, at least apparently, conflicting information: Dr. Hook maintains a onetime unprotected exposure when lesions ARE present is 1 in 1000 whereas Dr. Handsfield suggests when lesions are NOT present, the risk is 1 in 10,000. Assuming my ex partner had active lesions and I missed it, where does this put my risk?

2) Can you please quantify my risk? With the assumption she had genital herpes (HSV2), what is the best case scenario (no lesions on her) and worst case scenario (overt active lesions)?

3) Is it true that 80% of sexually active individuals will have intercourse with someone with genital herpes (HSV2) at one point in their lives? This is a quote from Dr.Handsfield, which also alleviates my concern. But I am not sure if he meant HPV and the abbreviation was misspelled to HSV2.

I appreciate both of your expertise and thank you very much for your service.
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239123 tn?1267647614
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
No, none of this changes the opinions and advice you had from Dr. Hook and me.  Still, I remain skeptical that you'll get beyond this obsession unless and until you are tested.  But there is the potential downside, a small chance of an indeterminate or false positive result, which can be confusing, especially for more anxious persons.  So it's up to you.  But if you get tested, you need HSV-1 as well.  Both viruses are normally tested simultaneously, and the HSV-1 result sometimes helps interpret the HSV-2 result.

If you go ahead with testing, the offer still stands to provide final advice after the result.  Otherwise, this ends the discussion.
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Avatar universal
When I looked at the numbers, I realized that there is a 99.99% possibility that I am negative. I do not want to get tested in that case because as you say it is out of obsession (many tests have lower specificities than this). I was wondering if this extra information, superficially checking for symptoms and the possibility of missing lesions on my ex partner, would change your assessment. I take that it does not since you still evaluate my risk to be extremely remote. Also, I was concerned about HSV2 and not HSV1. I know that I probably have HSV1 from childhood or were to get it in future.

Thank you.
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239123 tn?1267647614
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
You're really hung up on this, aren't you?  You are reading various comments from both me and Dr. Hook out of context, both in our direct replies to you and in searching MedHelp for comments to other users.  It is pointless for you to continue to speculate; just get tested.  Clearly your obsession with the extremely remote possibility of having genital herpes from this single contact is not going to go away until and unless you have a test that shows you weren't infected.

Feel free to return to let me know the result of a type specific blood test for HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibody, and then we'll close out all discussion about it on this or other threads.  (And by the way, the MedHelp rule is a maximum of 2 questions every 6 months on each of the professionally moderated forums, not every month.)

Regards--  HHH, MD
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Avatar universal
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Avatar universal
I meant: Dr. Handsfield suggests when lesions are NOT present, the risk is 1 in 1000.  Whereas Dr. Hook suggests the risk is 1 in 1000 when lesions ARE present.
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