you've had hsv2 since before you met your current partner. he recently acquired the virus from you.
even though you've never had an obvious cold sore that you can recall, you also have hsv1. Most adults have hsv1 and most of them never get obvious cold sores to know it.
Your igg isn't overly elevated other than being in the + range.
the igm falsely reactivates 1/3 of the time which is why we never recommend its use for herpes testing in adults and why it is meaningless as far as how long you've been infected.
As for your csf being negative a few years back, most folks don't have hsv2 detected in their csf in general. It can be but usually that's with the initial infection for the most part.
It's not unusual to transmit hsv2 to a partner and then start noticing symptoms in yourself once you know it's a part of your relationship either.
I'm really exhausted today so if something I said didn't make sense, just say so so I can try to explain later on when I"m caught up on sleep :) Also keep asking questions!
grace
okay but other sites post that Igg levels rise after initial infection and after igm, fall and then stabilize at low levels in the blood. Is this correct? Also, I have been with no one else and my Cerebral Spinal Fluid tap came up negative years ago. I do have a compromised immune system from doing chemotherapy - would this cause my igg to be elevated? Or cause it to elevate higher faster???? Also the night before he had a mass outbreak we had relations and this was a couple of weeks ago and I am now showing symptoms as described for a first outbreak.
Grace will comment on this further when she gets the chance.
Your BF's positive culture with a negative IgG blood test means it would be a newly acquired infection. You are HSV2+ based on your IgG, so assuming there are no other current partners, your BF would have acquired it from you. Unless he had sex with your girlfriend, he wouldn't have contracted it from her.
Disregard the IgM here; the IgG is what is the proper herpes test. Indeed the IgM picks up other viruses such as EBV and Chickenpox, hence why it's not recommended for HSV testing.
The toilet seat transmission is nonsense, btw. It's called an STD for a reason! You have to have sex to transmit it!