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Genital herpes symptom appearance.

I was recently diagnosed visually as having Genital herpes based on the appearance of lesions in coronal sulcus and foreskin. My last possible exposure was in November involving genital rubbing and oral sex. There were no visible lesions or symptoms till July. I was under stress from acquiring Hiv which was negative after 6months+ and recent 4th gen hiv CMIA test. Is it possible for symptoms to be this late for herpes?
This has made me doubt even my Hiv results.
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
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Sorry for the late reply. I did two IgG tests for HSV 1 and 2 (ELISA). Both came negative. But my doctor is considering them to be false negative as he saw blisters even though there was no crusting or scabbing
Even I am doubting whether it was herpes or some other infection.
You can get a Western Blot test if you want, but that's expensive. If you get more blisters, get them swabbed within 24-48 hours of them appearing, and make sure they are typed.

You can get a false negative on an IgG - the hsv1 misses 30% of infections and the hsv2 misses 8%, but I don't know. This seems suspect - your risk was low, loads of things cause symptoms that look like herpes, and you only had a visual diagnosis.

At this point, it's just really hard to say. It's up to you how far you want to take it. I'd be more likely to believe hsv1 than hsv2, based on the exposure, and you aren't likely to ever transmit ghsv1 to anyone, so if it were me, I'm not sure I'd bother, but it's your call. Here's some info on getting the Western Blot through Terri Warren - you'll have to self pay, and I'm not sure how it works in other countries. You'd have to ask her. If it's going to be a big hassle, I'm not sure I'd bother, honestly.
Thank you for your response.
So it's less likely that I would transmit Hsv 1 genitally to others through intercourse as compared to hsv 2 genitally??
Yes, far less likely.

We don't have transmission stats for ghsv1 like we do for ghsv2, but we do have shedding info, and know that ghsv1 recurs less frequently.

Shedding rates: (and you can find all this in the herpes handbook - https://westoverheights.com/herpes/the-updated-herpes-handbook/)

HSV 2 genital 15-30% (55-110) of days evaluated

HSV 1 genital 3-5% (10-18) of days evaluated
  
HSV 1 oral 25% (91) of days evaluated

HSV 2 oral 1% (~4) of days evaluated

We also know that after having ghsv1 for 2 years, you shed the virus about 4 days per year.

In all my years of doing this, I've never heard of anyone transmitting ghsv1 via intercourse. Terri Warren, who wrote the Herpes Handbook, and is one of the world's leading experts in the field, hasn't either. Really, all you'd need to do is avoid sex during an outbreak if your partner doesn't already have hsv1.

Also, ghsv1 isn't likely to go from the genitals to the mouth, so your partners could perform oral on you, if that's something you're into.

Really, if you do have ghsv1, you don't have a lot to worry about. If you want to confirm the infection with a WB, you can do that, but if you can't afford to do that, it's okay not to bother. It probably wouldn't change much for you either way, practically speaking.

20620809 tn?1504362969
I believe you had a lengthy discussion in the HIV forum that clearly told you that you never had a risk for HIV, so I'm sorry you were stressed about that.   That is no risk and please stop asking or worrying about that, you've asked enough and have a negative test.  However, genital herpes can be a possibility from genital rubbing.  Oral to some extent but that would be the very rare situation of HSV 1 (oral herpes, herpes of the mouth) passing to the genitals (which would not be a genital herpes, or HSV 2 transmission).  That's rare, HSV 1 transferring to the genitals.  Rubbing would be if the other person has HSV 2 and passed it to you through skin to skin contact.  WHO visually inspected any lesions you had and said it looks like herpes (which is all they can do from looking at it, diagnosing usually requires testing?  What is the next step? Surely, if this is true, they've asked you to test, correct?
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I was diagnosed by a dermatologist. He has prescribed me famiclovir 250mg for 5 days. He told me to repeat hiv testing but ddnt order any herpes specific test. Since it was a CSW I am petrified that I have hiv too inspite of all the negative results. Herpes lesion appeared just one week ago. I am dumbfounded.
No doctor would tell you to repeat HIV testing for a non exposure AND you already took a test that was negative.  We will not discuss HIV with you further as you have been fully answered on that subject and are not back tracking. The answer hasn't changed.

Take your famvir, This is hsv 1 on your mouth?  
I dnt have hsv 1 on my mouth. Never had cold sores. Just genital herpes. In my country any anal vaginal or oral contact with CSW is considered high risk. So the doctor thinks it is herpes due to a recent exposure considering 4-20 days. I even had to do hep B, RPR test.
Your country doesn't do a confirmatory test for a visual of hsv?  That's a bit neglectful.   If you got hsv 2 from genital rubbing, take your famvir.  What exactly is your question?
As a reminder, you were already advised fully by our members regarding HIV and we are not continuing it on the herpes forum.  Thank you
Actually, it's not rare that HSV1 is transmitted by oral sex - 50% of all new genital herpes infections are hsv1.

A visual diagnosis is wrong a lot of the time, though. I'm not saying you don't have genital hsv1, but I do wish they had cultured it. Knowing if it's type 1 or type 2 is really important. It's also possible this is a fungal infection, dermatitis, or a long list of other things.

You had no risk for HIV or Hep B. There is a slight risk of syphilis. Your testing for syphilis is conclusive.

I don't know where you are, but does your country offer herpes IgG blood tests? If your exposure was in Nov, your tests would be conclusive now. If it comes back positive for hsv1, it won't tell you if that is what you have genitally, but if you don't have it, you can rule it out as the cause.
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