Negative blood and culture for Herpes Simplex, HIV

[june999]

My time line: unprotected sex with 3 people in March, April, May, June. 1st outbreak 6/26-- very itchy white blisters on vulva minora and anus that bursted and bled. Culture only found candida albicans. Then, about 2 months later on 8/22 I had the same symptoms again-- Itchy and swollen vulva minora with one white fluid filled blister that popped and bled.
Results on 8/27
HIV1/2 EIA AB SCREEN-- Nonreactive (nonreactive).
HSV1G   0.09     HSV2GG   .16  
Herpes simplex Isolation/culture: 00/00/ null   null

Questions: Did I wait long enough to take the tests to give me accurate results? I took herpes and HIV tests 6 months max or 3 months min since first exposure to herpes simpex and HIV. Can negative results be misleading? Are the herpes and HIV tests most accurate after a certain amount of time since the infection OR exposure?

No one will give me a flat out answer. Is there a chance that I will get positive results for these viruses when I go back to do bloodwork in 4-16 weeks? Could I be at the herpes simplex stage? Also why do I have values for HSV1G and HSV2GG... could these values go up?

[gracefromHHP]

depending on what kind of culture you had done, not too unusual to be negative which is why we recommend follow up testing at the appropriate times with type specific herpes igg blood tests.

this may all be due to yeast but certainly worth covering your bases properly.

[june999]

If it's not herpes, what could it be? Why would my test results be negative? What does that mean? Is it a new infection?

[gracefromHHP]

it might not show up on cultures.
follow up with testing again at the time I suggested. continue to be seen every time you have symptoms too.

[june999]

I have had reoccurring yeast and UTI infections for 4 years. I have been treated for a yeast infection about 2 times a year for 4 years. And experience Utis 4-5 times a year related to sexual activity. Always take antibiotics to cure the utis and yeast infections. The last time I went to the doctor (last week), they didn't say anything about yeast... they just don't know definitively what the culture is. I'm beginning to think that maybe the last person I had sex with in early June may have given me HIV and or Herpes.

QUESTION:  If I was exposed to Herpes in March.. it would have shown up on the blood test and culture by now, right? It's been 5 months since then...

[gracefromHHP]

all hiv related questions need to be asked on the hiv forum. we don't answer hiv testing questions here.

can you have reoccurring yeast issues like this? indeed you can. did they test you for yeast when they reoccurred again?

since you had last had sex in june, you really should repeat your herpes igg blood testing again in october just to err on the side of caution. continue to be seen every time you have genital symptoms for a proper exam.

also you won't get a zero as a result on the herpes igg blood tests due to the way we perform them. you don't have a little bit of herpes or anything like that that you have numeric results.

grace