Low positive HSV2 IgG

[Mr1911]

Hey everyone,

I just started a new relationship so I decided it was my responsibility to make sure that I have nothing hidden inside of me that I could transmit to someone. I decided to do a 10 panel STD/HIV test, I had never taken a test for anything in my life before. Everything came back negative (including HSV1) except for HSV2 that came back positive at 1.90 IgG

Here's a little background on me. I had two suspicious single encounters (unprotected vaginal) a week apart from one another, the last one was on June 26th and I waited until August 22nd to get tested, so that's just a little under 8 weeks. Before those 2 encounters it had been 4 months since I had unprotected sex with my ex-girlfriend. I am circumcised, had chicken pox as a kid and never experienced any symptoms even when drinking a lot of alcohol (I read this was a triggering factor) or eating foods high in arginine. For at least the past 2 years I've been taking daily 50mg of Zinc, 200mg Magnesium, 5000mg Vitamin D, between 2000 and 3000mg of Vitamin C and 200mg of Selenium. The reason why I bring up the supplements I'm on is for two reason:
-perhaps they make it harder for the virus to infect someone since they reinforce the immune system
-perhaps they slow down the replication of the virus causing the person to be positive but with a low index since there isn't a lot of virus to fight.

This is purely speculation as I'm not an expert in immunology. If infected by a virus, does the body keep creating more and more antibodies until the threat is destroyed or does it eventually stop when the immune system deems the amount of antibodies is adequate for the threat? In other words, if infected will the antibody count rise to very high levels over time or could it stop a low level like mine? Because if that's the case I'm thinking of maybe taking another ELISA in a couple weeks and see how my index changes. I've seen cases however where a 2nd ELISA was even higher than the first one only to be confirmed as a false positive by a third ELISA and Biokit.

I found a clinic where I live that administers the Biokit, I have an appointment next Friday. When I found out earlier in the week that I was maybe infected, I started taking oregano oil pills and olive leaf extract (stuff I take when I feel a cold or illness coming down on me); I have a hard time sitting idle when being told the amazing news of having a life long condition. I read that taking antivirals (namely Acyclovir and the like) can skew the results on the tests, I am not taking those but oregano oil and olive leaf extract are antivirals, should I stop taking them prior to getting the Biokit?

My HSV2 results were done through stdcheck.com which administers the ELISA test.

Based on this information what are the odds that this is a false positive? I read that up to 3.5 is the gray area with 65% chance of being a false positive. If truly infected, would 1.9 suggest a recent infection?

I don't know if it makes a difference but my mom gets cold sores, I can't tell if ever had any or if it was just acne on the lip. I know that having HSV2 orally is very rare anyway.

Thanks!

[Mr1911]

I am putting this case to rest and won't bother retesting at this point, can't keep second guessing doctors when I have no reason to believe I was infected in the first place other than some number on a apparently often unreliable test.

[Mr1911]

Since I had an appointment today for the Biokit, I still went ahead and took it. It's been exactly 9 weeks since the last potential exposure and the result was a clear negative, no hint of a 2nd dot anywhere on the test. The opinion of the two doctors I consulted + this Biokit is enough to convince me that the IgG was a false positive. He also advised against getting tested again.

[gracefromHHP]

You should wait a full 16 weeks before any additional testing is done. The biokit is most accurate at that time and since you are using it for the purpose of ruling out a false positive, it's well worth waiting until the most appropriate time.

Has your new partner also sought out full std testing that included herpes igg blood testing? did you both discuss hpv vaccinations?

grace

[Mr1911]

I read about potentially having a faint pink dot and in that case depending on the doctor they'll say it's positive or negative.

[Fleetwood20]

Well Biokits only provide positive or negative. If negative then all good. If positive then a false positive cannot be ruled out.

[Mr1911]

Thank you for your input, I will update this thread after taking the Biokit and I hope that I will get a definitive answer from that and not just another confusing in between value.

[Fleetwood20]

Given you describe no penile lesions emerging such that the test is the only indicator of a possible infection, we are looking at about a 75% chance of a false positive.

Options here are to wait until about 12 weeks after your last sexual encounter (previous partners) and test again with the same tests. If still low positive (as opposed to negative or high positive) then you would probably need to consider the Westernblot test at that time.

Antivirals will not impact your test if taken now, but you do not need nor should take antivirals in these circumstances. Nothing else you mention is an issue with the test.