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False positive on a Herpes test
I know this is a long post, but I'm desperate for any kind of answers or help you could offer.
So about two and a half weeks ago, I noticed a small white bump on my vagina. That bump quickly spread up one of my labia and around my inner thighs over two or three days, and became extremely painful ulcer like sores. At the same time, a place that I had chewed my lip turned into a large scab that oozed a white secretion, my pinky finger and nailbeds started to swell and ooze pus and were very warm, painful white bumps appeared on my tongue, and a fluid filled ball developed behind one of my back teeth. I began to have a fever along with the sores, as well as swelling of my lymph nodes, muscle pain, and general lethargy.
I immediately went to my doctor and saw his nurse practitioner, had a blood test done, showed her my nails and throat which she dismissed, and the results came back positive for Herpes antibodies, without the ability to delineate between 1-2. But, it also came back positive for the epstein-barr virus as well. Everything else was negative. During the time I was waiting for my results, they gave me an amox-clav prescription and anti-virals that I began taking and had no sign of a rash, and my fever continued off and on. The swelling in my nail buds also got worse and opened into scabbed lesions, and my face started to develop painful swollen bumps that spread up my chin to my forehead, about the size of a pencil eraser.
The sores on my labia went away after about a week- but for some reason, the bumps on my inner thigh and outer lips opened bigger and now look like white rings with pink/red in the middle, with flaky skin around it. The nurse practitioner told me my labia was very red and swollen at the time of the exam, and I haven't noticed a change in that either. I have even been applying zorimax to my lip lesion but it has been two weeks and it is just now starting to decrease in size, along with my pinky which is now peeling where the pus had collected.
My question is after all of this, is it possible that I actually have MRSA? Or even fifth disease with a secondary staph infection of the rash? This doesn't seem normal for herpes to me and I read that in anti-body tests for HSV, epstein-barr and other bacterial infections like strep can cause false positives from interactions; infections of fifth disease are well known to cause false positives for both the Herpes antibody and epstein-barr as well but I haven't noticed any lacy rashes outside of the weird 'it's cold so my legs and arms look splotchy' kind of thing. Any kind of advice on this would be VERY much appreciated. The woman that checked me is an idiot and didn't even swab the sores to examine them, or know what side of my body my spleen is on for that matter. I'm scared that if this is actually MRSA, because of the lack of response from the amox-clav, that I could go septic if I ignore it like my N.P. said to.
So about two and a half weeks ago, I noticed a small white bump on my vagina. That bump quickly spread up one of my labia and around my inner thighs over two or three days, and became extremely painful ulcer like sores. At the same time, a place that I had chewed my lip turned into a large scab that oozed a white secretion, my pinky finger and nailbeds started to swell and ooze pus and were very warm, painful white bumps appeared on my tongue, and a fluid filled ball developed behind one of my back teeth. I began to have a fever along with the sores, as well as swelling of my lymph nodes, muscle pain, and general lethargy.
I immediately went to my doctor and saw his nurse practitioner, had a blood test done, showed her my nails and throat which she dismissed, and the results came back positive for Herpes antibodies, without the ability to delineate between 1-2. But, it also came back positive for the epstein-barr virus as well. Everything else was negative. During the time I was waiting for my results, they gave me an amox-clav prescription and anti-virals that I began taking and had no sign of a rash, and my fever continued off and on. The swelling in my nail buds also got worse and opened into scabbed lesions, and my face started to develop painful swollen bumps that spread up my chin to my forehead, about the size of a pencil eraser.
The sores on my labia went away after about a week- but for some reason, the bumps on my inner thigh and outer lips opened bigger and now look like white rings with pink/red in the middle, with flaky skin around it. The nurse practitioner told me my labia was very red and swollen at the time of the exam, and I haven't noticed a change in that either. I have even been applying zorimax to my lip lesion but it has been two weeks and it is just now starting to decrease in size, along with my pinky which is now peeling where the pus had collected.
My question is after all of this, is it possible that I actually have MRSA? Or even fifth disease with a secondary staph infection of the rash? This doesn't seem normal for herpes to me and I read that in anti-body tests for HSV, epstein-barr and other bacterial infections like strep can cause false positives from interactions; infections of fifth disease are well known to cause false positives for both the Herpes antibody and epstein-barr as well but I haven't noticed any lacy rashes outside of the weird 'it's cold so my legs and arms look splotchy' kind of thing. Any kind of advice on this would be VERY much appreciated. The woman that checked me is an idiot and didn't even swab the sores to examine them, or know what side of my body my spleen is on for that matter. I'm scared that if this is actually MRSA, because of the lack of response from the amox-clav, that I could go septic if I ignore it like my N.P. said to.
the herpes testing you had done was a waste of time and money :( the non-type specific tests aren't very helpful at all.
At this point, I recommend going back to be seen again. Get a full vaginal work up - testing for yeast and bacterial infections vaginally as well as std testing too. Since you've been on antivirals, getting a lesion culture for herpes at this point isn't worthwhile but they certainly can do a bacterial swab to check for bacterial infections too if they feel that your genital rash looks bacterial in nature. The antibiotic they gave you isn't always helpful for the most common bacterial infections on the skin.
grace
At this point, I recommend going back to be seen again. Get a full vaginal work up - testing for yeast and bacterial infections vaginally as well as std testing too. Since you've been on antivirals, getting a lesion culture for herpes at this point isn't worthwhile but they certainly can do a bacterial swab to check for bacterial infections too if they feel that your genital rash looks bacterial in nature. The antibiotic they gave you isn't always helpful for the most common bacterial infections on the skin.
grace
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Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
