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1037184 tn?1252781679

Lab values

My partner recently had blood work done and tested positive for HSV 1 and 2. I am negative for both and would like to remain so. The lab values on his HSV 2 test were quite high. My question is do your lab values fluctuate or go up when my partner is in an outbreak? An example of what I am asking would be similar to a case where someone has some sort of bacterial infection and their white count goes up. My second question is if my partner is currently having an outbreak and has a perianal lession but none on his genetalia  could I get HSV 2 from him if we had unprotected sex (pennis/vaginal) but never come in contact with the lession located  near his sacrum? Third question where did the virus origiate from? most people that have HSV 2 got it from their partner  and they got it from someone else. How did the first person get it? Meaning its origion? Example, did it come from monkeys?
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101028 tn?1419603004
If you two avoid sex anytime he has anything going on genitally, on average you are 90-92% likely each year NOT to contract hsv2 from him. His being on daily suppressive therapy with valtrex increases the odds to 95-96%  likelihood each year of NOT contracting hsv2 from him.  Using a condom only increases your odds of not contracting hsv2 to 97-98% each year.  

the laws for testing prior to marriage vary from state to state and most have dropped std blood testing now anyways. Not a single one of them includes a full std panel by no means. Not a single one of them includes herpes testing I can assure you.  Odds are that neither of them were ever, ever tested for herpes before all of this.  

As for him never having symptoms until fairly recently and possibly having contracted hsv2 back in college, he'll probably never, ever figure out if he had it and gave it to the ex wife or if she had it and gave it to him.  At this point no testing in the world is going to answer those questions.  His having severe symptoms though suddenly is a good reason for him to pursue a further work up to make sure that it's really all herpes going on and not also something else like a fungal infection or even MRSA ( or just a plain ole staph skin infection too ).  Also if you can get him to get his blood test results to post here for me I can make sure he was properly tested too .   All I need to see is his actual numeric results - ie hsv1 igg 4.3 and hsv2 igg 2.9 or whatever they are. Do you know if he's had a lesion culture of his symptoms he has now or just because he blood tested +  and then had symptoms his providers automatically said herpes?

grace
Helpful - 0
1037184 tn?1252781679
Yes he is on a higher dose of Valtrex 1 gm QD. I am certainly no MD, I am a Respiratory Care Practitioner and Combat Medic. As a Medic in the National Guard we are responsible for caring for our soldiers similar to a General Practitioner. STD's in the military are a very big thing. I see them alot but have never had to deal with a situation first hand. I get checked regularly and am still negative.We have decided not to engage in any physical activity during an outbreak not even with a condom. Im still worried about the viral shedding that can occur even when he shows no symptoms but in all honesty, I hate condoms. I am 40yrs old and this is the first time in my life that I have ever used them. The reason being is that I have only had a few sexual relationships in my lifetime, all were around ten years long and all had testing prior to any sexual activity. I dont want to spend the duration of this relationship wrapped in plastic wrap which means I have two choices, end the relationship and let him find someone who is HSV 2 positive or stay and have unprotected sex only at times when he appears healthy which I do fully understand is a total risk on my part.
I have a few questions:
Are there any statistics or studies out there which reveal the likeliness of someone contracting HSV 2 from their partner when they are not having an obvious outbreak and do not use condoms during that time? Example 20% of sexual partners who tested negative will convert to positive who reported having unprotected sex during  asymptomatic situations with their HSV 2 positive partenrs.
Next question:
My partner was married for 19 years to the same women, I met him when they went through a "trial separation" they later decided to go through a divorce. She accused him of sleeping around and said she was concerned that he had relations with some other women (which would be me) and that she was concerned that he slept with me got an STD from me then gave it to her. She stated that she was now terribly concerned and was going to get checked. The rest of the story is, My partner, her husband was irresponsible and a little wreckless in college and had heard through the grapevine that some girl he had unprotected relations with tested positive for HSV 2. My partner was concerned and started reading alot of info to see if he had any symptoms etc, which he did not and for many many years post college never really did. He said when he got married he does not recall getting blood tests or checked for STD's prior to marriage. Im from California and have also lived in Oregon. To my knowledge you must by law have prior STD evals before you can get married I dont know what the laws are in other states but he can not recall ever having to do anything of the sort. Anyways, They got married and everything seemed fine, his wife got pregnant with their first baby and through lamaze etc the whole STD issue came up that if an STD was suspected you must inform the OB so they can take precautions due to the damage an STD can do to a newborn. My partner told the OB of his unconfirmed encounter in college, The MD asked him several questions about prior symptoms etc and the doc did not seem to be too concerned. He reported oral or HSV 1 symptoms but no real obvious HSV 2 symptoms. His wife had a few episodes where her supposed underwear was irritating her and she had a rash, she also reported over three incidences of what she thought was ayeast infection. My partner stated it seemed like she had them all the time. Red Flag if you ask me for a healthcare worker but still no one actually had them tested or checked even after consulting physicians etc. My partner claims that in 15 years of a relationship there have only been a few episodes of things that were in question on his side that might have beeen minor HSV2 symptoms. One was the fact that his wiife sort of shaves things downstairs but occasionally the razor stubble she had irritated him a little  and caused minor irritation and redness but still no classice symptoms. He never had anything that according to internet reports of anything he felt was a classic HSV 2 symptom but still always wondered. Now that their relationship was over she developed classic symptoms and blamed it on the fact that her husband (ex) picked it up from me and gave it to her. She went to her MD had bloodwork done and tested positive. I/we dont know what her lab values were but they or she reported them to her ex/my partner as being very high.  He got checked he was high, Iam still negative for both HSV1 and 2. All of a sudden my partner/her ex has a full blown break out!! He was positive but never had symptoms and all of a sudden he is now suffering from pretty severe anarectal/sacral lessions that are ruptured and bleeding. I understand stress can do this which sort of makes sense but according to my partner he has never had anything even close to this. Now he is wondering if he was negative in the beginnning, she was positive and gave it to him. All the research I have done states the first outbreak is the worst and that every outbreak there after seems to get better or minimal. I understand there are exceptions to the rule but to me this looks like a full blown first out break which confuses us both. he states he has been through way more stressfull things than his divorce so why now? Why the major outbreak now. We dont understand? Can someone shed some light on us because according to our research if he had it all this time under more stressfull situations the little dragon would have showed its angry little head long ago. The only thing I can think of is, hes had it for a long time and has had alot of strees without an outbreak but now he's under stress and he's 45. He doesnt smoke drink etc but perhaps the fact that he is a little older and stressed could be the reason. Does anyone have any insight on this or a similar story??
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
The numeric results of his test are meaningless other than if they are + or -.

If he has an active ob, he is shedding the virus from the entire anogenital area regardless of where the ob is located. You should not be having sex with him at all if he has an ob present.

Is he on daily suppressive therapy to reduce your risk?


grace
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Nobody knows where it originated from. I don't think the antibodies value would mean he's having an outbreak. Yes, if he is having an outbreak somewhere other than his genetelia you can still contract while having sex.
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