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Herpes Type II IgM vs. IgG Results

by Jerod, Sep 21, 2009 01:44PM
Admittedly, I recently made a horrible decision and had unprotected sex and oral (only once) with a woman who told me she was HSV2 positive, but had not had an outbreak in 2 years.  However, she had just finished her period and had small abrasions on her arms due to a bike accident.  I've been with only one other woman in the last few years.  

I became anxious 3-4 days after this recent experience when I started feeling low-grade and brief tingling and perhaps slight 'burning' and 'muscle ache' in my penis, as well as what low-grade 'burning' around my anus (this during that initial time).  I also experienced a few muscle aches in my inner thigh and my gluts.  I have had this ongoing for a couple of weeks and is seeming to subside.  

I have, however, had none of the stereotypical prodromal symptoms of burning or tingling while urinating or deficating, no fever or headache, and from what I can tell no swollen lymph-nodes in my groin nor flu-like symptoms.  Most importantly, I have not had any lesions or any other unusual markings around my genitals.  

I saw my dr. 5 days after the encounter and I got the entire STI blood panel done the next day.  Thankfully, I tested negative on HIV, chlam, gon, syph.  

I tested positive for HSV 1, which I knew I had but had never been blood tested for.  I haven't had an outbreak for years.  

For HSV2, I tested negative on the IgM, but borderline negative on IgG with a .91 reading.  The tests were done at the 5-day mark.  My dr. suggested a re-test to see if the IgG reading goes up at the 2 week mark, which was a couple of days ago. I will learn of those results today.  

My questions are:

1) Is it possible that I took the initial IgM and IgG tests 'too soon' to detect any antibodies present? Has enough time passed to accurately detect presence of any HSV 2 antibodies?
2) What does the .91 reading mean if I ultimately don't have any HSV 2 antibodies present? My dr. told me that 1.08 is positive but then I read on this forum that truly positive is actually higher?
3) How quickly should I expect my IgG antibody count to increase if I am infected?
4) What impact, if any, would my + HSV1 antibodies have on my HSV2 blood reading? i.e. would my + hsv1 confuse the IgG reading, making it either false positive or false negative?

Thanks.

Member Comments (2)

by paytonrulz34, Sep 21, 2009 01:48PM
three months is usually when you should take the test so yeah you could have a false negative

by gracefromHHP, Sep 21, 2009 06:35PM
You paid to post this in the expert forum. Let's wait for their response so that you get your money's worth!

grace
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