questions regarding std panel.

[anonymone]

recently received results from the tests I had run - I was wondering if anyone could help me to better understand what exactly hsv IgG I/II 17.7 (00.8) means. the doctor's note simply states that what was revealed was old exposure to hsv, typically meaning cold sores but not necessarily genital herpes. he obviously wants for me to pay for another visit if I want an explanation but I would rather gather a little feedback here first.

it's my understanding that my test reads positive for hsv1 which is typically seen to mean oral herpes and negative for hsv2 (genital). the second score is handwritten and looks like 0-0.8 so i'm not entirely certain how to transcribe it. am i correct about this? should i have some concern about spreading from oral to genital (my doctor doesn't really seem to think so), or about it being genital to begin with? can he really date when the exposure occurred (he stated that it was 'old' rather than something recent)?

thanks kindly for your responses.

[gracefromHHP]

you could have hsv1, hsv2, both or neither - no way to know from the non-type specific testing.

the herpes igm test is a greatly flawed test that shouldn't be drawn on adults either.

[anonymone]

Ok, so from what research I've done it's my understanding that an igm positive tends to denote a more recent infection vs. an igg positive alone, which is probably what my doctor meant by old exposure. Thank you for the input - I don't have lesions to test or anything so I guess that is why he did non-specific blood tests, I will follow up to confirm.

[anonymone]

so you're saying the test picked up on hsv1 but because it's non-specific i don't know whether or not it's genital or oral? or that generally speaking it is non-specific so i could have 1 or 2?

[gracefromHHP]

you had the wrong herpes testing done :(  You had a non-type specific herpes igg blood test done which was a total waste of time and money. You know nothing about your herpes status from this test :(

grace