Genital Herpes

Recently I was in a physical relationship with a female who has HSV-1 genitally.  I only received oral sex from her and she said that she was not having current outbreaks.  A few weeks later I took the Herpeselect test and they found detected IGM antibodies.  My IGG for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 were far below the the levels to show previous exposure (0.17, 0.19).  I haven't had a primary outbreak, but ever since the test results came back I have been feeling itching on my shaft and tingling (maybe this is psychosomatic?).

1.  Can you receive genital herpes from oral sex with someone who has genital herpes?  
2.  How often does the IGM test come back false positive?
3   My doctor said some rare cases occur when patients become immune to genital herpes, is that possible?

[gracefromHHP]

the igm test for herpes isn't a useful tool. It's frequently falsely positive - so much so that it's not recommended to be drawn on adults for the purpose of diagnosing herpes.  Your provider should've never ordered it to be done on you and you should completely disregard the results of it.

You are worrying and testing needlessly from this encounter. First off - statitistically 1 out of every 2-3 people you've ever kissed or received oral sex from in a lifetime has hsv1 orally.  It's incredibly common and this isn't the first time you've ever been with anyone who has it.  Hsv1 genitally is also incredibly common - it's responsible for 1/3 of all newly acquired genital herpes infections.  It doesn't shed much and isn't likely to be transmitted to a partner but it could be. A 1 time encounter with someone who has hsv1 genitally was so low risk it wasn't even worth the gas to go get tested for it ( that would be if you had actually had genital sex with her that is ).  

This really sounds more like you had someone be honest and upfront with you about their herpes and you hit the panic button.  First off - she has hsv1 genitally.  She gave you oral sex. You weren't in contact with her genital area to begin with!!  There is a chance she had hsv1 orally too ( without obvious cold sores there's no easy way to know if someone contracted it both places or not ) but even that would be very low risk.

If you continue to have genital symptoms even after learning more about herpes ( www.ashastd.org ) then you need to follow up on it with your provider. No need to keep testing for herpes though because it's incredibly unlikely to be herpes - especially without obvious lesions present. Usually when someone is hsv negative and contracts hsv1 genitally it causes a "classic" presentation - not something you or your provider would miss very easily.  Just itching can be all in your head or it can also be jock itch.  The normal mouth flora isn't always so normal in the genital area and can cause issues.  



grace

[sneakers87]

thank you very much