false negative?

[RA2006]

About Dec-04 I  discovered one small bump on the lower shaft of my penus. It did seem to leak a fluid very little. I went to a doctor, she was not concerned. Told me not to worry, possible ingrown hair.( did not appear that way to me) It went away after a few weeks. Nov-05 I started having pains in my testicles that went down into my legs.Leg pain went away after a week. Since then they started getting red and irritated and a tingling feeling in the lower part of the shaft. Its also feels like I have jock itch due to the itching between my testicles and legs and between my testicles and anus. After seeing doctors, they tell me it does not sound or look like herpes. I ask for a test to be sure and they tell me there is none without having a lesion. I finally go to a dermatologist and after a few visits and cremes later I ask her about a blood test. She sets one up and I get tested. I do not know what test it was but the results came back negative for HSV-1&2. My concern is that is been almost 4 months, but I do spend most of my time sitting down with my job and I read that you should not wear restrictive clothing. My question is could there be a false negative in certain tests? I am not sure about the antibodies and how many weeks I have to wait for the best results. Just reading on the internet it sounds to me that I have it. I definatley do not want it but if I do have it I am ready to move on for treatment. I am tired of worrying and I am ready for some answers. If it does not sound like herpes, do you have any suggestions?? thanks

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Of course I cannot make a definite diagnosis (or absolutely rule out any particular diagnosis) based on an online description without personally examining them.  But based on your description, I agree with the doctors you have seen:  you do not have genital herpes. The negative blood test confirms you are infected with neither HSV-1 or HSV-2; all the readily available blood tests almost usually are positive within 4 months.  Anyway, I disagree with what you think you learned on the internet: none of your symptoms sounds particularly like herpes, and many online sources give very inaccurate information about the diseasee.  For example, herpes probably never causes the tingling at itching you describe.  Accurate information is available in the link STD Quick Facts and Articles on the STD Forum home page, from CDC at www.cdc.gov/std, and the American Social Health Association at www.ashastd.org.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

One of my comments above is supposed to read "all the readily available blood tests usually are positive within 4 months".

HHH, MD

[RA2006]

Thank you all, you have been a big help, I talked to the nurse earlier today and I asked her about the test. It was just a standard test for HSV-1 & 2. she stated the IGG for HSV-1 was .00 and for HSV-2 .07. and something else was .24. A  .89 and below was negatitve for that test. I also have really dry skin and also getting treated for eczema on my shoulder. I just found today a little blister on the skin at the fold of the inside of my leg near my groin , appears to be raw. Back to the drawing board I guess. I am going to schedule an ultrasound like the urologist wanted to do initially. Again thanks for your help and support maybe I will get to the bottom of it.

[Willl]

I don't know very much about herpes but I get a bump like you are talking about periodically and I think it is irritation from shaving or an ingrown hair. The pictures of genital herpes I have seen before were a group of little bumps instead of one.

[binky2005]

RA2006, your lesion back in Nov '04 is completely irrelevant to the analysis.  It was probably just a pimple. Pimples on the penis are not uncommon.  

Fast forward to Nov. '05 through today--If you have not had sex in the four month period leading up to your herpes test, you can be confident with a 16 week test that you do not have herpes. Find out whether you were given a HerpeSelect test by your doctor, which is a very good test.  However, there are other fine tests on the market today, and I'm sure the one you were given was fine and you do not have herpes.

However, even if you were given the worst herpes test available to humankind, it is irrelevant and here's why:

You said that you've been worrying a lot about this tingling feeling and jock itch for the last few months.  You might have jock itch, you might have eczema but you are almost certainly freaking yourself out with worry.  Herpes' prodrome, where a tingling feeling occurs in the genital region at the site where the herpes blisters will form, simply does not last four months . . . ever!  You are fine and need to put these worries behind you.  Also, stop reading the internet about STDs, particularly about herpes since there is a ton of misinformation out there.

Also maybe ask the derm whether you have some kind of fungus or eczema, which might be the culprit, if any, here.

Good luck.