I have been in a commited relationship for almost 5 years. We are planning on getting married and having kids one day. Two weeks ago I went in to the Dr. because I nicked myself while shaving and I thought it had gotten really infected (maybe a rusty blade, yeast infection from my soap, to much sweating I wasn't sure). When I went in the Dr. told me it wasn't an infected wound it was a herpes sore next to a small nick. We got it tested and I came back positive for herpes.
I have only had 3 sex partners including my current partner and my partner has only been with me. The Dr. said it most likely came from one of my past partners. She said the virus can lay dormant for years before showing signs. However, I told my partner and he got tested. His test results came back saying he has been exposed to the herpes virus but that he did not have it. Which is a relief but at the same time confusing. How can he be clean if I've had it for possibly longer than 5 years and we've been having sex for 5 years? I don't want him to think I've been unfaithful and not to sound like a bad person but I wish he had come back positive so I wouldn't feel so alienated. I've read that the blood and urine test often come back negative because they are "weak" tests and the only way to confirm is by taking a sample from the sore it's self. So is it possible that he has the virus but it is currently dormant and that the test is not 100% reliable?
Any extra insight, knowledge, or previous experience would be appreciated on this subject matter. Thanks!
Es cierto que el herpes genital puede permanecer latente durante años. Además, cuanto más tiempo lo has tenido, menos virus se liberan. No es raro que una pareja con un miembro positivo y otro negativo mantenga esa situación durante muchos años, incluso con relaciones sexuales regulares.
La transmisión de mujer a hombre es solo del 4% si se evita el sexo durante los brotes. Ahora que lo sabes, y dado que él es negativo, deberías discutir si debes tomar precauciones adicionales o continuar como antes.
La prueba de anticuerpos IgG en sangre es bastante precisa, pero no la IgM. Tener HSV-1 oral a veces puede causar un falso positivo bajo, pero rara vez uno alto. Los falsos negativos solo ocurren realmente cuando la infección es reciente y no se han establecido suficientes anticuerpos. El período de ventana para el HSV IgG es de 3 a 4 meses.
Un hisopo positivo de lesión es concluyente, y un hisopo de ADN/PCR es mucho más preciso que un cultivo viral, que a veces produce falsos negativos, pero no falsos positivos.
I've read a few places that "being exposed but not having it" just means that somewhere sometime they were exposed and may have the antibodies but don't have any active lesions. How true that is I don't know. It is possible too that he got a false negative. I believe it's harder to test for herpes when you're not having an outbreak. Are you in any pain from your outbreak or generally okay? And what type of HSV is it?
Tienes anticuerpos = infectado, o no tienes anticuerpos = no infectado. Si la prueba puede detectarlo es otra cuestión, pero la gran mayoría de las personas infectadas tienen niveles detectables después de 3-4 meses.
with GH, it's either you have it or don't have it. if his blood test is positive for GH antibodies, it means he has it. There is nothing like "he has been exposed". If it's type 2 it's definitely GH. Maybe he doesn't have visible outbreaks, but is actually positive.
That's what I thought. But when I looked I saw people discussing the same thing she experienced with her boyfriend. I thought it was pretty black and white.
PD: Los anticuerpos IgG siguen presentes cuando el VHS está en estado latente.
Does anyone know to read these test results accurately? The Dr. did not explain what it meant to us very well. And other than saying "he has been exposed" she did not confirm positive or negative. The test we paid for was the HSV IgG which is suppose to be the best.
It was an HSV IgG test
for HVS 1 it said In Range: <0.90
for HVS 2 it said Out of Range: >5.00H
Value and Interpretation:
<0.90 Negative
0.90-1.10 Equilvocal
>1.10 Positive
From my understanding of this he has HSV 2.
They also used the IgM test but from what I have read it's not very reliable. The results for that test came back all negative.
Does anyone know to read these test results accurately? The Dr. did not explain what it meant to us very well. And other than saying "he has been exposed" she did not confirm positive or negative. The test we paid for was the HSV IgG which is suppose to be the best.
It was an HSV IgG test
for HVS 1 it said In Range: <0.90
for HVS 2 it said Out of Range: >5.00H
Value and Interpretation:
<0.90 Negative
0.90-1.10 Equilvocal
>1.10 Positive
From my understanding of this he has HSV 2.
They also used the IgM test but from what I have read it's not very reliable. The results for that test came back all negative.
Here are the exact test results.
Sí, esto definitivamente muestra positivo para HSV-2 (y negativo para HSV-1). Más de 5 es muy poco probable que sea un falso positivo, por lo tanto, él también lo tiene. No es una exposición, sino una infección, aunque podría estar asintomático. Creo que tu médico usó un término extraño para indicar esto.
yes you are right he is positive for hsv2 which usually affects the genitals.
Igm is an antibody produced soon after you contract the infection. I'm not sure if it's also produced during recurrent episodes. It gives false negetives if you are not having an outbreak. IGg is the reliable one.
Sí, también puede producirse durante recurrencias, por lo que no es útil para determinar la recencia de la infección. Además, la prueba de IgM no es específica del tipo.
They told me to same but latter I tested igG for hsv
De lo que me dijo mi médico es que la prueba dará negativo si no ha tenido un brote. La única forma de dar positivo es tener un brote, porque entonces tienes los anticuerpos en tu sistema. Mi médico dijo que generalmente un brote ocurre 2 o 3 semanas después de estar expuesto a él. Aún podrían llevar el virus incluso si no muestran signos de él, como herpes labial, etc., por lo que podría estar dormido; simplemente no dará positivo hasta que tenga un brote, lo cual quién sabe cuándo será. He tenido una experiencia similar. Espero que esto ayude.
Thank you to everyone this was very helpful! It still feels awful but at least I know I'm not alone.
Lo siento, pero eso no es correcto. Puedes tener anticuerpos, lo que significa que estás infectado permanentemente y serás portador de por vida, *con* o *sin* síntomas o brotes. Una vez que tienes anticuerpos, es así. Tienes herpes. La razón principal por la que existen los anticuerpos es para combatir una infección, por lo tanto, esa persona está infectada, y en el caso del herpes, es de por vida.
Y sí, definitivamente puedes hacer la prueba para detectarlo en ausencia de síntomas utilizando la prueba de anticuerpos IgG. Solo una muestra de lesión/cultivo requiere un brote activo.
Hi feliscatus,
You seem really knowledgable about GH. Hope you could shed some light to me. Ive recently had symptoms like a cut (close to anus) and 3 ulcers on my genital, body felt warm and had flu for like a day. Doctor looked at it and told me that its herpes and later gave me "herpevex". Maybe because i took the medicine, my outbreak wasnt too bad. It wasnt too painful to endure (only felt the stinging pain for few minutes) and it probably took 4 days to clear since the ulcer was formed. I also took blood test which includes IGG antibody test. A week later i got my result and it says negative on both HSV1 and HSV 2. Now the problem is, i believe i got infected 10 days before i got tested. So i believe my result is just negative because im in the "window period".
Okay this might be a stupid question, but im wondering, i got myself tested when i got symptoms, would there be a higher chance of producing IGG antibody earlier (if im infected).
And if im infected, IGG antibody will definitely not be there (symptoms or not) if im only infected for a week?
Also, my partner has no symptoms. According to him, he havent had sex for 2 years. He got himself tested after i told him, but its just some standard STD test which means they didnt test IGG antibody on him. Another question is, if he has no symptoms, how likely is it for him to pass herpes to anyone? We had unprotected sex. My doctor said in the future, as long as i dont have sex during my outbreak, it'll be fine. He said it in a very chill tone but its totally different from what i read on the internet. So if my partner wasnt having an outbreak during the time we had sex, how likely am i to be infected?