HSV-2 Results of 1.55. Do I get re-tested?

[Danevan]

After finding out about a long distance girlfriend was involved in escorting for about 6 months while we were dating I decided to get tested for STD's.  My HSV-1 was 0 and my HSV-2 was 1.55,  It has been 5 months since we last had sex.  Needless to say I am freaking out.  Before I contact her and tell her that I am positive I want to know what are the possibilities of a false positive.  Do I wait to get retested or just email her now about my results?

[confusedinuk]

That's great news.

[feelingundone]

First off thank you for the follow up. Congratulations!!! I am very happy it all worked out for you and way to not give up.
It really is alarming how little some Dr's know about hsv or testing. I recently had a young lady in this exact same situation and her Dr told her the westerblot was for hiv and was not available for hsv.
One again congrats and thank you for sharing the outcome
Don

[Danevan]

I had a western blot done and it came back negative.  Thank you so much for your advice.  I originally went to my doctor who flat out told me that I don't need to get tested because if I have HSV-2 its no big deal and if I don't then it really doesn't matter either.  I was shocked and insisted I get tested.  It was 2 weeks of back and forth trying to get testing done because none of the nurses knew how to do test or where to send blood.  I tried to communicate what needed to be done.  Long story short I had to get western blot directly from U of Washington directly.  The whole process is ridiculous.

[feelingundone]

Fleetwood is exactly right. The westernblot is the best route. You can contact the University of Washington or the west overheights clinic in portland and they can sschedule everything for you. Either way thats what I would do. Actually that Iiswhat I did when I had a very low false positive. Good luck and keep us posted please

[Fleetwood20]

The quickest way to sort this out is with a Westernblot, but it costs. There is well over a 50% chance this is a false positive.

The alternative is to wait for around 3 months to give your blood a chance to 'clear' of the protein that is triggering the test.

[Danevan]

I got an HSV - 2  IgG only which came out as 1.55. My HSV-1 IgG came out as negative.

I am in Virginia and I had an STD Panel test.  Everything besides HSV -2 came out as negative.

I am just anxious and want to know do I contact my ex and tell her, or wait and try to get a western blot?

I have no symptoms but I have read that many HSV-2 positive do not have symptoms.

[feelingundone]

What tests did your Physician give you?
Igm, igg or both?
If that numeric value is from an igg test then yes it could very well be a false positive. If its from an igm then disreguard all together and get a type specific igg test. Let me know where your from ( USA or elsewhere) and what testing was performed.