confusing herpes test results

[bayleyamber]

My husband and I have been together 14 years.  Recently he was unfaithful.  He was tested a month after the affair ended.  He tested negative for Herpes 2.  2 months later I was tested and it came back positive for Herpes 2.  How can this be?  I had never tested for Herpes because there was no reason.  How could he be negative and me be positive?  I have remained faithful to him always.

[Noober]

There are several ways this could have occurred.

MOST LIKELY:  it takes awhile for a person to build up antibodies to the herpes virus.  He could have easily gotten a false negative.  He passed it the virus onto you.  Two months later, your test came back positive.

Other possibilities:  You could have had the virus laying dormant inside of you for years.  Doctors do not test for herpes during routine STD testing and most people are not aware that they have it.  To be honest though, your husband getting tested for it kinda reeks that he might have suspected that his former partner had it... i.e. why did his doctor order a test they normally don't order?

[bayleyamber]

I insisted he get tested.   He'll be getting tested again.  I expect it to be positive this time around.  I have a hard time believing this virus would lay dormant for 14 years.

[gracefromHHP]

You being infected and not knowing it for that long is far more common than you would ever suspect.

At this point definitely your husband needs to repeat some of his std testing. His hiv, syphilis and herpes blood tests need repeated 3-4 months after the last time he had sex with someone else.  

I can best help you with your blood test results if you can call today and ask them to read you the results and then you post them here. All I need to see if the actual igg values - ie hsv1 igg 5. 8 and hsv2 igg 4. 5 or whatever they are. No need to post any other info for me than that.  If you only had a + or a - for a result, then you need to ask them which blood test they used to test you - specifically if it was a herpes WB or not ( which the results would've taken 2-3 weeks to come back if you had had that done ).    Once I see your results, I can help you determine if you need additional testing or not to confirm your own hsv infection.

grace

[bayleyamber]

I'm getting those numbers hopefully today and will get them to you.  I know that the test for hsv2 was an igg test and is was a 5.0  I don't know about the hsv1 number - that's the one I'm trying to get.  When my husband tested, both of his hsv1 and hsv2 igg test numbers were <.90  BUt that was very shortly after he'd been with this other person, so maybe the antibodies hadn't had time to show up?

If I've had this my entire marriage of 14 years, wouldn't it be odd that my husband never got it?

[gracefromHHP]

If the hsv2 igg was 5 ( or over 5 ) then it's not a false positive.  

At this point have hubby repeat his tests and if he's still negative then you had hsv2 since before you met him and have just never had an obvious enough of a recurrence to realize it.

Hard to believe that you could be with someone that long and not transmit the virus since you weren't taking any precautions but it's actually just as much about bad luck when you do transmit it than anything else most times.

grace

[bayleyamber]

The hsv1 igg test was also a 5, for whatever that is worth