Has Anyone Actually Known Someone Who Has Seroconverted After 9 Weeks?

[TiminBoston]

I'm sure that anyone who has obsessed over a possible GHSV infection is familiar with the NEJM article (published in 1999) that gives data on conversion times.  I'm fairly certain that that article is what Anna Wald and Terri Warren are quoting when they go forward with their own guidance around when someone should expect to build detectable antibodies.

My question is related to the likeliehood that improvements have been made to the ELISA tests which are available today and the matter of not having heard from anyone here (with the exception of 1 or 2 people with stories/timelines that are a little dubious) who could definitively state that they tested in the negative after 9 weeks post expsosure who eventually converted.  Nearly every single person here who tests in the low-positives or equivocal range at or around 3 months after their last sexual encounter seems to chime in a few weeks later to tell us that they just go their 14,15,18, etc. results and SURPRISE they are negative.  

I wonder how reliable the figure that scares the wits out of many of us who have had a lifetime of building HSV1 antibodies (only 73% will have converted to HSV2 at 3 months...after first outbreak) is 13 years after the publication of an article that was very likely to have been based on resources that have since been enhanced.  I also wonder why this never seems to have been brought up before.

Does anyone here have any insight?  

Thanks

[ehbeedub]

I don't know the exact figures -- tests are something like 70% accurate at 6 weeks, and the percentage only goes up from there. There are, however, always exceptions in science, though they are not common.

Searching for anecdotes here won't give you the answers to what's going on with you. All that you can do is wait it out and take heart in your negative testing to date.

[TiminBoston]

I've been to a few doctors, plan to see a few more until I can give this thing a name.  I'll report back on this site once I have conclusive findings (I wish more people would - good or bad).

In the meantime, I hope you and Fleetwood and Cat and Grace know how much those of us who come to this site scared and anxious appreciate the sound, honest advice.  

Whether or not it is GHSV, I'll live.  And I think the lessons I've learned on this site have helped me realize that.

[Life360_Dave]

If you tested negative at 2 months odds are that you are negative. Nerve issues around the rectum could be hemorrhoid related and herpes symptoms are not so much on the penis head but on the shaft. Penis head irritations are most often topical fungal related.

[TiminBoston]

Yeah, I get that.  But, I wonder if that data is old.  

I just wonder if the science everyone is basing that "3 months"  on is outdated...  Maybe the tests today are exactly the same as they were in 1999 when the last big study was published; but I wanted to know if anyone knows.

I guess it was just a reach anyway.  Trying to make myself feel better after testing negative after 65 days post last exposure.  Despite lingering symptoms on the head of my penis and odd sensations randomly occuring in the nerves around my rectum...

[Life360_Dave]

3 months is the door when the average persons test would be conclusive.

[Life360_Dave]

Hi, you kinda lost me on this. You want to know why percentages are not talked about more?