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Avatar universal

hsv indeterminate WB

Hi Terri,

First and foremost, thank you for being a part of this service.  I always find your posts and feedback extremely helpful and I always appreciate your direct honesty.  Thank you!

Now the details of my question:
I am a 30 year old female with what one would call extreme health anxiety concerning HSV.  I realized that many of my concerns are unwarranted and I am usually able to put them aside as I enter new relationships.  Regardless, over the last several years, I have tested negative for both type 1 and 2 on the igg test and to date, have never had a visible sore (both genitally or orally) and believe me....i check frequently.
Against even my best judgement, because I wanted to put my fears aside for good before entering a serious relationship with a man who is negative for both types as well, my provider agreed to ease my anxiety and ran a western blot which came back as "Low level antibody detected by Western Blot assay. Indeterminate for HSV" and recommended retesting 16 weeks past the test date.  As you can imagine....my anxiety is now at its highest and would love to know your thoughts.

My history:
-- all sexual encounters (ever) have always been condom protected.  
-- in the 12 months prior to the WB being ran, i was only with 2 male partners.  
One man was positive for type 1 (never having a recognized cold sore) and negative for type 2.  I was was him only twice before the relationship ended and was condom protected in both encounters.  This was 14-15 weeks prior to the WB test.  
The second man tested negative for both type 1&2 on the igg and had not been with another girl at least 6 months prior to his test being ran.  

I realize the best thing to do is wait for the 16 weeks to pass; however, can you offer insight as to your experience with the "Low level antibody detected by Western Blot assay. Indeterminate for HSV" result on someone with zero symptoms?  

Thank you in advance!!





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Avatar universal
Sorry.  One more update.  While I was working in France, shortly after being with the first man, I developed what seemed to be a bad UTI or bladder infection. The results where:
bacteria: 1000 but polymorphe
cells exam: leucocyte: 467 ( normal <10), red cell: 425 ( normale <10).
Symptoms were consistent with a normal but maybe bad UTI.... Painful urination (internal pain, not around the vulva) to the point where my eyes watered, bladder pain, dark urine, painful to standup straight or even walk because my bladder hurt so bad and had urgency.  Now of course I'm reading that this could be from sores inside my urethra??  I also had protein in my urine.  No sores around my vulva however.  

Does this sounds like herpes??
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Avatar universal
Thank you for such a quick reply.  

The timing of that contact was approximately 15 weeks prior to the WB test and no and there was no oral sex.  Although we did kiss on several occasions of course. He claims to have tested negative for type 2 at a very reputable ID health center in France and confirmed it was the igg.  
The second man was negative for both and I fully trust this.
And again.... Condoms have always been used.
Between that time and the date of the test, I had also kissed one other man who claims to never have had a cold sore, but this could also suggest possible exposure and antibodies could have been building at the time of my test (for oral type 1?)  but again... I've had zero symptoms there as well.
All of this said.... From what I understand (and I'm mostly repeating it to confirm and ease my nerves) is that the result could be from a type 1 infection, most likely oral but with the lack of symptoms in either location.... We may never know?  Or I may be one of the rare individuals with the conflicting protein?  But because the episode with the man in France was around 15 weeks prior to the test, I can rule out type 2 as a cause, even if for some reason his test results were false negative?   And all other possible exposures prior to 9-12 months can be ruled out as well?  To this point.... Because of my anxiety.... There aren't many people to mention in the greater than 9-12 month mark.

Beyond that, in a normal intimate relationship, a single exposure, condom protected, for let's say an average duration of time is from what I read and understand, very low risk. And to confirm that in someone like me..... If infected, especially without having a prior hsv1 infection, it would be more than likely that I would notice a sore and lesion, correct?  
Last question, if I do move forward with a second wb, what is the average turn around for the results. Even with all mentioned above, I'm incredibly scared and the wait feels like torture. :)
After this, I promise to stop with the nearly obvious questions. But appreciate your feedback!  
Helpful - 0
55646 tn?1263660809
I'm so sorry you got back this difficult result.  We never like to get these, but we particularly hate getting them when a person has genital health anxiety.  So here is what may be going on :  your body may be producing some proteins (we don't have a clue why that might be) that are similar in molecular structure to one of the kinds of proteins present in herpes antibody.  This can artificially trigger an indeterminate on the western blot.  When that happens, and it happens rarely, we only ask people to retest if it has been less than 4 months since any sexual contact that might put them at risk of acquiring herpes.  I'm not clear when you last had sex with the HSV 1 positive person whether this sexual contact included receiving oral sex.  The most likely site of infection in him is the mouth; he could have genital HSV 1 but that is uncommonly transmitted via intercourse.  Did this person have an antibody test for HSV 2?  If it was negative, and it was done, then you can accurately take HSV 2 off the table as a possible cause for the indeterminate western blot.  So that leaves HSV 1 as the possibility if he did indeed test negative.

In my humble opinion, given the timing, the nature of the sexual activity and the result, you don't have herpes.  You can certainly test again, but my guess is that the results will be the same.  

We are starting a study this summer of people who have indeterminate western blots.  If you can arrange to get us blood sent, we could include you in the study if you would like.  

Let me know if I can be of more help.

Terri  
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