HSV2 symptoms, please help

Dear Doctor,   My partner has HSV 2, and has had it for approx 4 years, he has on average 3 recurrences a year, has only had one while we have been together in 7 months and we made sure we did not have sex, he is not on medication.  Unfortunately i was very stupid and had unprotected sex with him 8 weeks ago,(he did not have sympoms at the time but i know that is not safe either) 1 week after i felt generally unwell, had pins and needles down my right leg, i slight ache in my right groin, pins and needles on the inside of both thighs and slighly itchy genitals, this lasted for a week and then i felt fine for the next 3 weeks,  it has started again but much worse, for over 2 weeks my genitals have been burning, the pins and needles are worse, my right leg somethimes feels like it has gone to sleep, and my lower back sometimes has an ache, not bad but i can feel it, my labia minora is red and looks almost chafed all along the edges, but i cant see any sores, this chafing has been present around 5 days, i have been to see a consultant who has tested for all std's, they have all come back negative apart from  the HSV2, it takes alot longer to get the results, i am going out of my mind, i feel so very depressed that i cannot leave the house, i am so angry with myself, i suppose i know deep down i have got it but my symptoms are confusing me, i would have thought that first time i had the sympoms would have been the worst, but this time is much worse, do you think there is a chance i will still develop lesions even though i have had these symptoms for 2 weeks....any advice on my symptoms would be gratefully appreciated

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum. Let me start my reply by congratulating you on having gone to see a consultant.  That was exactly the right thing to do.  There are many potential causes of the sorts of sensations you describe, most of which are not STD (including herpes)-related and testing is the correct course of action.  As far as your HSV tests, do you know if the consultant did a culture or PCR test or a blood test for infection?   Each of the tests having different strengths and weaknesses.  My hope is that a culture or PCR test was done as there is a small chance that the redness and chaffing you are experiencing may be due to HSV and if that is the case, the culture/PCR should be positive.  

It is also worth pointing out to you that even though your partner has HSV unprotected exposure to him does not assure that you will get it.  In fact, only a small proportion of exposures to infected partners lead to infection.

As far as your symptoms are concerned however, the may not be due to HSV. We receive many, many question relating to symptoms of this sort and few, if any turn out to be due to HSV.  HSV symptoms are typically accompanied by lesions and if your tests are negative, for HSV, that pretty much dismisses the chance that this is HSV.  Furthermore, if I understand it correctly, your recurrent symptoms have been present for about 2 weeks and that too would be most unusual for HSV.  Let's wait and see what the tests indicate.

Finally, a comment.  There are 4 things we recommend that people do when their sex partners have HSV and they do not, providing they have first  PROVEN that they do not have HSV by having a negative blood test (remember, 90% of people with HSV do not know they are infected, thus the need for a blood test).  You and your partner have done 2 of the 4, including the hardest one- informing one's partner that a person has genital HSV.  Your BF is to be praised for doing this.  The 2nd thing is to avoid sex during lesion, this too is something you are doing and is good. The last two steps are to use condoms during sex and for your BF to take suppressive therapy for HSV every day.  The suppressive therapy reduces risk of transmission by about 50% and condoms reduce risk by about a 3rd.  Few transmission occur when all steps are taken.

Hope these comments help.  Please let me know what sort of tests were done and what they show.  EWH

[oscar1978]

Thank you Doctor for your speedy reply, unfortunately i have only had the blood test for HSV, when i saw my consultant the tingling and burning had really only just started, he examined me but the 'chafing' was not present then so he thought everything looked fine, it is only in the last 5 days this has appeared, i suppose probably keep looking and inspecting doesnt help!, i should have the test results tomorrow/tuesday, incidently i was tested 6 weeks after the 'exposed' incident. Thanks again.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Thanks for the clarification. Plese let me know if your blood test results and I can comment further at that time if your wish.  eWH

[oscar1978]

Hello Doctor
I have had my blood test results today over the phone, consultant said HSV2 is negative, and HSV1 is inconclusive and that i need to be retested in December, I looked on the blood test results (i work at the hospital so had a look at what it said)  there were not any numerical figures which i see is posted alot on here,  just said Anti HSV2 IgG= negative and Anti HSV1 IgG-Equivocal,  the laboratory comment underneath for HSV1 was....."this result is difficult to interperet as the type specific assays are less sensitive than the Dade Behring assays".
Because i was tested only 6 weeks after my last 'exposed' incident, do you think the HSV2 i can stop worrying about? or is it possible i could still be positive but it not show up yet?....sorry for all the questions, its just this has really got to me and i've lost 8lbs in 2 weeks with worry :-(   one last question, could HSV1 be the cause of my symptoms, i just thought that was not as bad as type 2 if caught genitally....Thank you so much again, i really do appreciate your time.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

At 6 weeks about 80% of HSV infections would lead to positive blood tests. This, combined withthe absence of typical lesions is strong evidence that you have not gotten HSV.  EWH

[oscar1978]

Many thanks