Cellular Changes associated with Herpes Virus

[HELAINE84]

My gyno called this morning to tell me that my pap was normal, but there were some cells that showed up some Herpes activity on my cervix.  She told me everything looked fine during the exam and I've never had symptoms/outbreaks ever.  I think she is ordering a blood test now.  However, I'm scared and would like to know if this could be a false postive Pap smear or are they generally accurate at detecting Herpes?  (She also said she had never seen this show up on Pap results before)  Please give advice because I'm really scared.

[gracefromHHP]

Yes sometimes abnormal cells on the cervix can suggest herpes infection.  Following up on this with a type specific herpes igg blood test for hsv1 and hsv2 is the best follow course of action at this point.  If you have a regular partner - they should get a blood test too.

Meanwhile while you are waiting to get those results - the herpes handbook at www.westoverheights.com is a terrific resource to start learning more about genital herpes at. The patient counseling video there is also wonderful and really helpful with the "omg my world is falling apart" feeling many folks have when initially diagnosed.  Hang in there - we'll help you get this figured out! Just keep adding to this thread so that we can easily see all your posts :)

grace

[HELAINE84]

I finally have received my blood test results.  I was positive for both hsv-1 and 2.  How come I read online that even these can result in false positives?  Maybe I'm in denial, but I had viral throat infection at the time of my blood test.  I've never had any symptoms before of a genital infection.  My partner is being test soon as well.  Is there any way that HSV2 can lay dormant in your system and then just show up in a blood test years later?  Or is it just something that is always there from infection-time?  

[gracefromHHP]

If the pap test picked up on herpes then you've been probably having herpes recurrences on your cervix periodically. Of course that's not an area we can see at home easily to know when they are going on.  Once your partner gets tested to know what his test results are then you can better decide what precautions to take, if any.

Can you get the numeric results of your blood test? I just need to see the igg results - ie hsv1 igg 6. 1 and hsv2 igg 2. 9 or whatever they are.  

grace