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Avatar universal

Is this a false positive?

    Hi, I recently became a phone patient of yours and sent in my Western Blot sample last Friday. I have a question regarding the likelihood that my current test results were in fact a false positive.
    To recap my story: I had protected vaginal sex with a stripper, while wearing boxers as well, for 5-10 minutes. Within 48 hours I experienced a tingling sensation at the base of my penis, followed by bilateral inguinal ache and burning that was so severe it would wake me up at night. I also had cold sweats at night and generally felt exhausted and weak, though that may have just been from not sleeping. I never really saw any lesions to speak of, and I looked really hard. Those symptoms faded away after a couple of weeks or so.
     I tested at 4 wks and at around 10-11 wks, both came back negative. It is now 6-7 months since that encounter and I decided to test again, without any symptoms at all since that time that I know of, and came back negative for HSV1, positive for HSV2 at 1.25. I recognize that this may be a false positive. However, you have stated in other threads that the negative HSV1 makes it a little more likely that the result is correct. So my question is: what is my risk? Is it still about 85% likely to be a false positive, or are my odds worse than that?
      A few days after my positive results I started have bilateral burning sensations again, quite severe, for a couple of days, a very mild rash in my left groin fold, but it doesn't look like anything herpetic that I've ever seen. I'm open to the possibility that it's anxiety, but that pain was not subtle. The timing however, would seem to be telling.
      I want to begin sexual relations with my wife again, but I'm scared to death that I'll infect her, and I don't know if I could live with myself if that happened. I'm really anxious and depressed about this whole affair, and any guidance/advice you could provide would be extremely appreciated. I hope that WB comes through soon.
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55646 tn?1263660809
I think that when people take a small risk with their sexual health, they begin to notice every single sensation in the genital area, things that may not have every noticed before.  

I think that's all I have to offer on this right now.

Terri
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi,
    Thanks for your reply. I'll take your advice on waiting till my test is back.
    I realize that there is little good that will come from speculation at this point, but if you could just answer a further question for me: Have you seen cases of herpes that sounded like the symptoms I described? Conversely, have you seen anxiety bring on symptoms like these when no herpes is present? They seem quite atypical to me, but I just wanted to get your thoughts on that.
     Thanks again for your guidance.
    
Helpful - 0
55646 tn?1263660809
It usually takes about two weeks for test results to come back with the western blot.  

Statistically, there is about an 85% chance that it is a false positive, yes.  

My advice for this post:  Don't have sex with your wife until we get the results back.  I just don't think it is worth taking the risk, do you?  With only about 2 weeks to go before the results come back?  

Its hard to know what all the symptoms are about, honestly, but I would say if your western blot is negative, then you are home free.

There is really no point now in speculating about this further until we get test results, right?

Terri
Helpful - 0

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