blood tests

[niera]

Hi

What is Western Blot (type-specific test?) And what are others and how they are ranked in terms of reliability ?

thanks

[gracefromHHP]

totally up to you if you feel that repeating your testing is worthwhile or not. As I already said, the false positive issues don't seem to be as much of an issue as the hsv2 false positives are.  

[Mistakeguy789]

You asked this question already and got an answer.  :)

[niera]

So its very expensive and probably not so worth it.  

IgG tests are considered pretty accurate for HSV1? Bioreference Labs did a Hyperselect Immunoblot assay.

Is it possible that a value of 2.3 is an error?

Does a 2.3 low positive value mean a mild case of HSV1, not active, or recent infection?

Should I go back and get confirmatory testing in 3, 6 months?  

Thanks so much to the both of you!

[gracefromHHP]

It's going to cost you around $200 total for a herpes WB until you add in the cost of the test from the U of washington as well as lab charges to have your blood drawn locally and semt out to them.

[Mistakeguy789]

Well let's talk testing for a second.

The Western Blot (WB) is the GOLD standard for HSV testing.  This means it is the best out there and used to compare all of the other testing too.  The Western Blot test is performed at one lab (UofW) and it can be expensive as most insurance companys won't pay for it.  But the cost you need to contact your doctors office and they can contact their lab to find out how much it would cost to have the blood sent there.  

The testing isn't the best for HSV-1 compared to HSV-2.  The test isn't as sensitive.  So a few people are missed on the test and about 1 out of 10 tests will miss an HSV-1 infection.  HSV-2  on the other hand has a range in which a "false positive" will show up and people should get a comfirmation test done with the WB.  But this doesn't seem to be much of the case on HSV-1.  

[niera]

Thanks, Ok so WB will be most accurate. I am guessing, but it has to be specifically asked for, how? Expensive?

What do you mean it isn't much of an issue regarding false positive w/HSV 1?

Pardon me, just would like an elaboration.

Thanks

[gracefromHHP]

in general the false positive issues don't seem to be as much of an issue with the hsv1 testing.  

even the best blood tests we have still miss 1 out of every 10 hsv1 infections.  it's hard to do confirmatory testing with hsv1 and totally up to you if you think a WB is worthwhile to confirm your hsv1 status.

[niera]

Hi, thank you. I am getting adjusted to how to post- think I'm getting it now.

I will look up that website. Grace, I had another question about antibodie levels for HSV 1 on an IgG test, with no clear sxs.  My levels as tested in 1/11 (a couple weeks ago) came up HSV1 2.3. Is this considered low, meaning milder sxs? Is false positive likely? Can values flucuate to below cut off or sky rocket later?

Thanks for your time Grace!

[gracefromHHP]

it's really helpful when you just keep adding to your original post. this is your 3rd post now and it all should've been in 1 post. thank you for your future cooperation.

the WB is a specific type of herpes blood testing. www.herpesdiagnosis.com has terrific info on all the herpes blood tests as does the free herpes handbook.

grace