Dear Dr.-
A couple months ago, I received news that I tested positive for HSV-2. I'm not sure which test I was given, but when I asked the nurse, she said it was the blood test that was the more accurate of the two. Anyway, when I went in to get a confirmation test done, via Western blot, I noticed my medical forms said my test showed the numeric value for the first blood test was between 1 and 3 or so.
I waited about 2.5 weeks to hear back from my Western blot test, which just came in the other day. This test showed I was negative for both HSV-1 and HSV-2. The guy on the results hotline read my chart verbatim and it said that I was negative for both (and that I had never been exposed to either viruses, whatever else that may add). He also said that even though this test is not FDA-approved, it is considered the gold standard for herpes testing.
I managed to call the Virology Clinic at the University of Washington to ask them some questions about my situation and the woman who answered the phone simply said, "Congratulations, you're negative." She also told me that there is a high prevalence of false positives for results such as mine (falling within the 1 to 3 range), something the person who first told me I was "positive" for herpes neglected to tell me.
Anyway, I guess my question is, can you simply provide your thoughts on this scenario? Am I, in fact, negative for HSV-2? Is the Western blot truly the "gold standard"? Are there a lot of false positives for results that I originally had in the first blood test?
Thanks so much!