Hello,
I was exposed to a man with an oral cold sore 2 weeks ago (he has never been typed, but presumed that it was HSV-1). As soon as he was sure it was an outbreak, we ceased contact, but there was some contact after he first had the tingling/burning symptoms.
~1 week later, my nipple became sore, and a day later a small sore appeared. It looks like a small canker sore on my nipple, and was only painful four a couple of days. I have been keeping it clean and bandaged, and it has not really changed much in the last week.
I went to a clinic right away, who recommended getting a blood test, without swabbing the nipple. The doctor said it looked like it could be a herpes sore, although the margin was not as red as she normally sees.
The test came back positive today for HSV-2, with a result of greater than 5 (1.5 is positive, as I understand). I was told it was negative for HSV-1 (I'm cautious here, as initially the doctor said I was positive for HSV-1 and not 2, but then he corrected himself to the results I described above.
I dated a man with type 2 orally about 5 years ago, but have not (knowingly) interacted with anyone with herpes of any kind since, until this man 2 weeks ago.
A friend told me that there is a way to get a sense of if it is a recent or longer term infection from the results, although I'm not sure what that is.
So these are my questions:
1. How can I get a sense of whether this is a recent or long term infection? (There are more people that I would want to contact if it is a longer term infection)
2. It seems like a good idea for me to get this sore swabbed, just to make sure it is HSV, and not something else...any thoughts on this? My understanding is that if this is an outbreak, I will have the sore for at least another week, maybe longer (I'm not taking any medication, and am just bandaging with a general herbal ointment), so I can go in next week and still be 'swabable'!
3. Is there anything I'm missing/overlooking/not thinking about...?
Thanks in advance for any help/insight!
Sincerely.
JJ