Confused about timing of first symptoms and test results

[hopingfalsepositive]

Hello - I am a 36-year old female who has been in a monogamous relationship for 5 years. Just about 2.5 weeks ago had one-time sex with an acquaintance. It was unprotected. He told me that he was recently tested and only had sex with one other person before me since he was tested, and that she was tested recently as well, with everything coming up negative (for both of them).

I have never had any symptoms of herpes at all, but I totally panicked and just had a full STD panel done after that encounter (just over 2 weeks ago), including IgG HerpeSelect for Types I and II. All of my other STDs came out negative, but both Herpes tests came out positive. I destroyed the paper with the results already, but it was just yesterday, and if I remember correctly, Type I was in the 3.5 range, and Type II was in the 1.4 or 1.9 range. Since then, of course, I have been so devastated that I have been "feeling" all kinds of symptoms and wonder if they are psychosomatic.

Since I was tested so soon after exposure and since the results were on the low side, do you think it makes sense to get re-tested?

My confusion comes from the following: all of the websites say that the first outbreak takes place 2 - 15 days after exposure. And if that's the case, then why would we have to wait a few months for accurate test results? If the outbreak occurs so soon after exposure, wouldn't the test results be conclusive once the outbreak occurs since the virus would obviously be in the blood and active?  

[hopingfalsepositive]

I picked up copies of my test results again:

Type 1: 3.06
Type 2: 1.75

[hopingfalsepositive]

Hi again Terry! I should probably have posted my message above as a question rather than a statement...

In other words, I understand the false negative situation, but do you think that it's possible that my low positive result may be somewhat iffy due to the fact that I had the test so soon after exposure? You said above that it could take only 10 days for antibodies to develop - that doesn't mean that I should consider my results conclusive, does it? I should still get retested in about 2 months, right?

And one more thing...how likely is it to get the virus from someone through one sexual encounter, if there is no visible outbreak? I know that you can get it even when there are no visible signs, but if there are no visible signs and it happens just once, are your chances pretty much 100% that you'll get the virus anyways? In other words, is it highly contagious, or moderately?

No more questions until I hear back from the most recent partner with confirmed results...I promise!

Thanks,

Sleepless in Seattle.

[hopingfalsepositive]

I'm not worried about a false negative, since that is not a situation I am in.

Since I tested in the low positive range, I'm trying to determine if the timing of my test might make my positive results less reliable.

Thanks!

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

Testing so soon after the encounter is iffy because it takes time to make antibody - from 10 days to 4 months, perhaps.  If you test too soon, you could get a false NEGATIVE result - that is, the test might say negative, but the reality is, you didn't allow enough time from infection to testing to have the test be able to detect antibody because you haven't made it yet.  

Hope that makes sense.

Terri

[hopingfalsepositive]

Thanks so much for your reply!

My recent exposure encounter was, as mentioned above, on March 19th, and I was tested on April 9th. My question is this: does the fact that I tested using the iGg test so soon after exposure (2.5 weeks after) make the results less reliable than they will be 12 weeks after exposure? In other words, does testing so soon after exposure increase the chances that my already low-end results are a false positive?

I'm fairly certain that my most recent partner did get tested for HSV 1 and 2 as part of his recent "STD panel test" and that he tested negative for both, but I am confirming that with him. I will post again when he lets me know.

Thanks again.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

You have my response to that in the above response.

Terri

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

It is very uncommon for a a first outbreak to show up almost a month after a sexual encounter, so I wouldn't worry about that bump being a first outbreak, no.  In terms of your test results.  Your HSV 2 value is within what we call the low positive range.  Low positive is defined as a test value falling between 1.1 and 3.5.  When my patients test positive in that range, we order a confirmatory test because sometimes, these are false positive results (ie. the test says you have HSV 2 but you don't).  The test that we order is the herpes western blot from the University of Washington.  You can look online and find info about that and how your clinician can send them blood samples for this test.  Or, if you clinician uses Quest labs, the test can be ordered through them.  The test code is 34534.  If the western blot says you don't have HSV 2, I would believe that.  However, the recent partner does complicate things just a bit.  When he says he has been tested, that sometimes does and sometimes doesn't include herpes testing.  It would be best if he could check on that specifically.  If he's not been tested for herpes and would agree to be tested now, that could clarify things for you more simply.  If he tests negative and your current regular partner is negative, then you don't need to be concerned.  If the newer partner's herpes status is truly unknown and you are concerned, then you will need to wait a while for accurate testing - the UW says 12-16 weeks from the sexual encounter for the western blot to be accurate.  Does this information help you?  Let me know if there is anything I can clarify for you.
Terri

[hopingfalsepositive]

I just posted the message above about an hour ago. Since then, I went to the bathroom to explore a spot that has been sensitive over the past day or so in my butt area, and sure enough I found a very small white dot that is very sensitive to the touch. I don't recall feeling anything like that before and am afraid it is herpes. Is that possible / likely?

Also, the date of the unprotected sexual encounter was March 19th, and that was 3 weeks ago. Is it common for blisters to start to form that long after the first exposure? Thanks.