Biotest Result

[Caveman1]

Greetings.

Ok so about feb 1st I received unprotected oral sex from a girl who afterwards told me she had hsv-2 (she confirmed it by igg specific testing). It was a one time encounter. Since then I tested negative around 3 weeks post exposure and the igg tests both came back negative for me. Today I noticed 2 red bumps on the shaft of my penis and went to the local std clinic. The clinician told me that the bumps didn't look like herpes as they were not open sores and couldn't do a swab to confirm. She told me to monitor them  and said its unlikely but possible that they maybe could turn into sores but she didn't think so. She asked me to take a igg test for reassurance since it has been over 3 months. The results would take 2 weeks.

In a panic i searched for another  clinic and found a place that claimed immediate results in 10 minutes. The test was called a biokit hsv-2 immunoassay test. The result was negative.

My question is what is known about this tests accuracy. I hear about the igg tests and wb but little is said about this test. Why is it so rare? In your opinion is the result valid? Do u feel I should take the standard igg test? Is 12 weeks enough? What should I do?

Do red bumps with no pain and no sores turn into herpes?

Any advice helps.

[Kj518]

A related discussion, Hsv positive but never had a symptoms was started.

[Caveman1]

Hi Terri,

I hope that you are well and wanted to give you an update.
Well i decided to take the Western Blot test to put this behind me once and for all. So here goes: to recap,

Exposure to HSV-1 and HSV-2 positive girl, kissed and received oral sex. no genital contact.

2 week mark: IGG negative 1 negative 2
2 week mark: BIOKIT negative 2
13 week mark: IGG positive 1 (1.37) negative 2 LABCORP
13 week mark: BIOKIT negative 2
14 week mark IGG negative 1 negative 2 QUEST

18 week mark: WESTERN BLOT: negative 1, INDETERMINATE 2

So I thought that this could not get any more confusing, i guess that i was wrong!!! not only am I more confused now than i ever was, i wanted to put this behind me but cant.

So here are my questions: try to answer them:

1) What is my status?
2) What do I tell potential partners?
3) Should I take this test again?
4) As far as symptoms on my lip i have had three bumps (one after each other) 10 days apart from each other on my lip line. they never sore and the healing times, were 3, 3 and 1 day respectively. Does this sound like Herpes?
5) Were my testing times accurate?
6) My exposure to HSV-1 and HSV-2 came from Oral Sex, and you mentioned above that oral sex risk is really for hsv-1 not hsv-2, does your opinion still stand?
7) What does indeterminate mean on the western blot....could this be investigated further? - can someone check with the lab?
8) Dr. Taulbee in your office is very sweet and she helped me get this test, i asked if the testing center can make a mistake, any way to check on this?

Just wanted your opinion as well. Please let me know what you think i should do next...

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

We are not clear on why results are not consistently accurate.
What did the western blot say?

Terri

[Caveman1]

Hi Terri. Thanks for the response. Trust me on this the wb results will conclude my situation.

Here is the deal though. You mentioned below the following

One test negative (false neg 1/10!times)

One test positive (value between 1.1-3.5 50% are  false positives)

So what gives. Why test at all for hsv-1 at all?? seriously? I have a phone consult with doc talubee from ur office Monday to schedule wb but really these results really annoy more than help.

I go from no symptoms to oh wait I see something down there to the docs saying that it's not herpes to taking a test negative on biokit positive on igg then negative again all within days of each other. It's funny because if my first igg test was negative I would have never considered retesting at all!!!!!

So lastly before I post my wb results. U mentioned false negatives  that occur fine I get that.
But what's the deal with false positives? Why would a number be positive when actually negative? Are other things skewing the results? Would it be a testing issue or error?

I want to put this behind me forever. So annoying. All for unprotected oral sex. Really ???

Thanks for reading.

[Caveman1]

Hi Terri. Thanks for the response. Trust me on this the wb results will conclude my situation.

Here is the deal though. You mentioned below the following

One test negative (false neg 1/10!times)

One test positive (value between 1.1-3.5 50% are  false positives)

So what gives. Why test at all for hsv-1 at all?? seriously? I have a phone consult with doc talubee from ur office Monday to schedule wb but really these results really annoy more than help.

I go from no symptoms to oh wait I see something down there to the docs saying that it's not herpes to taking a test negative on biokit positive on igg then negative again all within days of each other. It's funny because if my first igg test was negative I would have never considered retesting at all!!!!!

So lastly before I post my wb results. U mentioned false negatives  that occur fine I get that.
But what's the deal with false positives? Why would a number be positive when actually negative? Are other things skewing the results? Would it be a testing issue or error?

I want to put this behind me forever. So annoying. All for unprotected oral sex. Really ???

Thanks for reading.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

what I meant was that if it is negative (the western blot), it will only help you if you let it help you.  If you don't believe it, there is really no point in doing it, right?

Terri

[Caveman1]

Have you seen people test again and stay negative? This is kinda annoying me. I will take the wb but you made an interesting comment that I am curious about ?

You said in the 2nd to last post , I am not sure taking the wb will help you except in my head. What does that mean?

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

False negatives - one out of 10 times.

Terri

[Caveman1]

When u say that the igg test for hsv1 is not accurate are u referring to a false negative or false positive??
In ur experience what do u think will happen?

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

I can see why you are confused at this point.  As I've mentioned before in other posts, the IgG test for HSV 1 is not as good as it is for HSV 2.  Now that you have had a low positive on the HSV 1, if you were my patient, I would get the western blot, yes, if you really want to know if you have HSV 1.  The good news is that I believe you can relax about the HSV 2.

Again, I"m not sure if this will really help you except in your head where you will know if you are infected anywhere with HSV 1.

Terri

[Caveman1]

Ok so another update: so I went to my primary doctor and am now confused more than ever. 5 days after testing with positive for hsv- 1 I took another igg test with my own primary physician and the results are as follows. 0.2 and 0.4 for hsv-2 and hsv-1. Negative on both.

So is this encouraging? Should I disregard? Western blot still in order. The symptoms that i had, the 2 bumps never turned into sores and were never convulsively diagnosed as herpes.

Where do I go from here. What is your opinion? Still take the wb?

Thank u

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

The first question is are you really infected with HSV 1.  Your index value falls into the low positive range (1.1 to 3.5).  About half of the positives that fall into this range are false positives.  At 16 weeks, I would recommend a western blot.  I would try to get the index value from your first draw.  I know you said it was negative, but what was the number?  The ELISA that you had done misses about 1 out of 10 at least, real positives so it is also possible that you have been infected for years with HSV 1 and the first test just missed it.  If you are infected with HSV 1, there is no way to know, without a lesion orally or genitally, that tests positive by swab test for HSV 1.  
Your symptoms do not sound like an outbreak to me.  So your question four is not really relevant.  You have also been told this by others.
Number 1 and 2 I have answered - test at 16 weeks with western blot.  

Terri

[Caveman1]

Ok so I just received my igg test results and I was negative for hsv-2 but positive for hsv-1 at 1.37. This is disappointing since 2 weeks after the encounter I tested negative for both.

Now I contacted the my former partner and she said that she tested positive for hsv-1 as well with a value like 1.5 or 1.7. She can't remember exactly.

Now here are my questions. Plz try to answer all of them
1- is my test conclusive after 13 weeks
2 - should I retest
3- I went to three doctors since experiencing  the present symptoms and all of them said that it doesn't look like herpes and they couldn't do a swab to confirm as there were no sores. Just two circular red dots. That we kinda peeling. No itching no pain. I noticed them after having unprotected sex with someone of know negative status 2 days prior to symptoms
4- if this is indeed my first outbreak why did it take 3 months? Does that mean I will get recurrent outbreaks. How do I confirm this ?
5- what do I do next to confirm if I have it gentially or orally or both

Thank u

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

The risk of receiving oral sex is really HSV 1, not HSV 2.  Unless you had genital to genital contact with her, the risk of you getting hSV 2 from this encounter is very close to zero.  

If you were our patient with a negative biokit, though I don't believe it is the best test in the world, I would believe that you are not infected with HSV 2.  If you want to get the more standard test, you can, but having time go by is not really on your side here.  It is the risk that you should be evaluating, and the risk of getting HSV 2 from oral sex is tiny tiny tiny.

Terri