False Positive Herpes (HSV 2)

10 years ago I contracted HSV-1 oral to genital. I never had another outbreak. 1 year ago I was reminded of that tingling I will never forget. I went to the doctor and she was unconvinced it was an outbreak and treated me for a vaginal infection. I still wasn't feeling better, so I went back to the gyno five days later and got the swab test. It came back positive for HSV-2. I was shocked because my partner had recently been tested and his blood test came back negative. I took antivirals and 6 mos went by without the common reoccurance I read about. I decided to get a blood test. The blood test came back positive HSV-1, negative HSV-2. Maybe this was just a fluke. I got a blood test again four months after (10 months total since possible exposure). Same results--positive HSV-1, negative HSV-2. Are the swab/culture tests really smarter than two blood tests months apart??

[gracefromHHP]

some folks won't test accurately on the igg blood tests. best you can do at this point is if you get another ob, be seen and get another lesion culture and typing done.  you can also get a herpes WB and see if that picks up on the hsv2 or not. hard to tell if the culture was mistyped or not. definitely make sure the culture you had that was hsv2+, truly was typed and not just hsv+ and was reported to you as hsv2 since it was genital ( a common office error unfortunately ).  

when you were originally diagnosed, what testing did you have done?

grace

[sunshine111111]

Do you know what type of swab you had done?

[CourtneyX]

The swab was typed as "HSV-2". Not sure of the methodology, but I will look into it. Haven't had anymore outbreaks since. Also confused about that because everything I read says you should probably have a reoccurance within the first year of contracting HSV-2. I think I will just spend the $ and get a Western Blot test. Is a WB as accurate as a swab test? Thanks for your advice and I will let you know the results if I find a place that does WB.

[gracefromHHP]

definitely check to make sure that your 2nd lesion culture was typed and not just that it was hsv+ and just presumed hsv2 since it was genital.

some folks will not test accurately on any of the blood tests we currently offer which is why a + lesion culture trumps a negative blood test.