What test to confide in?? Conflicting answers!!!!

[Stillscared86]

Hey medhelp, I'm a 32 year old female. Never had an std or reason to believe I had an std. In July I had an annual exam, all test came back negative except for my hsv2. It was positive via herpeselect . My values where 2.55. I was shocked never had an outbreak or any signs. My last sexual contact was nearly 2 years before I was tested. This means I went 2 years without any symptoms and also a pregnancy without any symptoms. I have hsv1, had it since I was a child and even had an outbreak of hsv1 during my c-section and another one a few days after, but still no hsv2 outbreak. I went to see an infectious disease doctor after no help from my gyn. She said my values of 2.55 sealed the fact I had been exposed and she never had a false positive in her office. My infectious disease doctor suggested a western blot, which came back a month later negative hsv2, and positive hsv1.. I was shocked but happy it came back negative . The doctor said elisa is very sensitive, but western blot is very specific. And to believe the western blot.. I really want to believe the western blot, I had so many sleepless nights because of this test ordeal... But my gyno is dead set that a 2.55 is definitive as an infection.. Any in sight from anyone. Some people on this site said a 2.55 is definitive infection. Anyone with some valid advice or knowledge please respond.

Melissa B.
Thanks

[gracefromHHP]

Your gyn needs to update their testing information for herpes. the false positives are a real issue and any results under 5 in folks who have never had any genital symptoms need to be confirmed with further testing. You pursuing the WB for herpes to confirm your negative hsv2 status was the best thing you could do.  If your gyn continues to insist that you have a true positive, time to find a new gyn :(

you have no reason to think you have hsv2. Your false positive hsv2 igg result was most likely caused by interference from your previous hsv1 infection.

grace

[Fleetwood20]

There is no question here, you are negative for HSV2.

ELISA based tests such as Herpeselect use just a single viral protein antigen known as gG-2 to coat testing wells. Sometimes proteins unrelated to HSV antibodies just stick and cause false positives.

The Westernblot is a monstrously better test. It uses all of the proteins produced by the virus in the test. The blood is introduced to the full array of viral proteins and then separated into four different sized bands. This is a comprehensive assessment of whether there are antibodies in your blood reacting to the virus. It is a very detailed process and the results are subjectively assessed by three scientists.

You can confidently report to your doctor that they have witnessed a false positive.