Shingles or HSV1/2

[veryworried759]

I am a 26 yr old male. I had protected oral sex with a stranger around 2/21, and actually had a test done from http://tstd.org/ on 7/7, which came back negative for HSV1/2, HIV, Syphilis, Gonorhea, Chlamydia.

Since that incident, I haven' had any sexual contact. I got pretty drunk on 7/3 and was coming back in the morning around 8 in the morning, but don't remember most of the walk back home. I was pretty sure nothing risky happened there, but what I describe below puts doubts in my mind.

Around 7/19, I started noticing burning will urinating, and slight pain in the penis, which came and went in waves. About 2-3 days after, I saw a tiny cluster of bumps on the under side of my penis, slightly to the left. These now have black centers. A day after, I also noticed clusters of bumps/rashes right at top part of my buttocks. These are mostly on the left side, but one is about a quarter inch right of the center. The bumps above on my butt hurt, but the ones on my penis aren't nearly as much of a problem.

I went to a doctor with my current symptoms, who said straight away that this was Herpes. I told him about the earlier negative tests, and he then said that this could be the Shingles variety of Herpes. I told him I never had chicken pox as a kid, but he said that I may have had it without knowing or something (I didn't quite get that part).

The doc has me on Valtrex, and took a culture for Shingles and blood and urine for HSV and HIV (the last one on my suggestion). It may take 2 weeks for the results to come back, and I wanted to ask someone what this sounded like.

1) Is this likely to be shingles or HSV2?
2) Even if HSV2 comes back negative, Is it possible to get shingles if you haven't had chickenpox, and to get them in more than one place, including the penis?

Thanks a lot in advance.

[veryworried759]

Thanks for the input... the antibody tests should be back soon, but the culture will probably take more time according to what the doctor said. I will post the results once i have them.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome back to the Forum.  In reading your description it is difficult to assess what is going on.  It is unlikely that this is the first expression of any sort of infection acquired five months ago.  The description and location of the lesions you describe on your penis are certainly suggestive of genital herpes but for genital herpes to occur without recent sexual contact would also be most unusual.  It is also very unusual for herpes zoster to appear on the penis although it does happen rarely.   Trying to sort this out will be done best with the tests that have been taken.  The culture test, if taken when the lesions were "fresh" should detect either HSV or Varicella zoster virus (VZV), the virus that causes herpes zoster and if positive will be a great help.  The antibody tests should also be helpful.  It is possible to perform antibody tests both fore HSV and for VSV and I would suggest that both be done.

Finally, I would add that you may want to consider other causes of this problem. It would be most unusual for either HSV or VSV to cause a rash of the sort you describe both on the penis and the buttocks.  I would consider other possibilities such as another dermatological problem (allergy, skin reaction, etc) as a possible cause. These sorts of things are more likely to occur in multiple locations.  If the rash is not getting better with the valacyclovir, I would suggest seeing a dermatologist.

Finally, I'm surprised it will take so long for your test results to come back.  The blood test results should be back in a few days and cultures rarely take longer than a week.  Once you have your test results, if there are questions with interpretation, please let us know in a follow-up post and I will be pleased to comment.  EWH

[veryworried759]

Also forgot to mention that I have slight pain in my left thigh, which I earlier thought was because of working out at the gym, but now the whole 'left side' angle is making me think it may be another symptom.