Does Acyclovir Delay Antibodies and Affect Testing Results?

[Hola2010]

Hi - (30-male-single) In December 2009 I had unprotected sex with a female partner who the next day noticed a small red bump on her vaginal area.  She got a culture test 2 days later and was diagnosed with HSV-1 genital by her gyno. I went to get tested at a STD clinic the next day and all my results came back negative (for all STD's) which makes sense since I know it takes time for the antibodies to show up (I did not get a culture swab b/c, at that time, I did not have a outbreak YET). About 7 days after the protected sex, I did get some uncomfortable pimples on my penis that looked (and definitely hurt) like herpes.  I went to an urgent care clinic and the doctor prescribed me with acyclovir based upon a visual inspection and the fact that i had recently been exposed to it.  He told me I definitely had herpes.  I had +/- 10 different red dots on my penis and shaft.  The pimples went away in 2 weeks or so and I have not had an outbreak since Dec 09.  Sometimes I feel a very mild burning sensation that doesn't last for long but part of me thinks that could be my mind making that up more than anything.  Regardless, all of my symptoms have always been in my genital area.  Fast forward to Sept 13, 2010.  That day I went to my primary care doctor (not the urgent care guy from Dec 09) and told him i wanted to get a blood test just to confirm that i had herpes.  When the results came back however, they were negative.  I got my results back from Enzo Clinical Labs (HSV-1 & HSV-2 Type Specific IgG test-Herpes Type Specific) and this test was done over 10 months after possible exposure.  My results for type 1 were 0.5 and type 2 results were less than 0.2 (well below the 1.00 index).  My primary care doctor told me this was good news and that I didn't have herpes type 1 like I thought.  The one question I had is would taking the generic drug acyclovir delay antibody production?  I had been talking the medication from Dec 09-Sept 10.  Would this skew my test results even though it had been almost 10 months since sex with this girl and clinically speaking, this is usually enough time for herpes to show up?  I'm going to get another test taken after Jan 1.  I stopped taking the acyclovir in Sept 2009 and have not had any red bumps and/or outbreaks.  Have you experienced a situation like this before?  Update on the girl - she had a blood test in Oct 2009 after I told her what happened with my results and she came back positive for HSV-1.  Basically I'm a little confused.  Thanks and Happy Holidays!

[Hola2010]

Yes I stopped suppressive therapy.  

[gracefromHHP]

we already discussed this when you asked it back in september. did you stop suppressive therapy as I advised?

grace