False Positive Herpes Blood Test - similar experience

[worriedny77]

Wanted to make everyone aware of a blood test situation I recently was involved in.  I went to a local doctor's office that does STD testing.  They did the test and everything came back negative, except I was positive for HSV-1 and HSV-2.  I had never been positive for HSV-2 and was skeptical that I had picked up that virus from the interaction I had.  No prior symptoms at all.  They re-did the test and confirmed the results.  This is all in NY

A friend of mine referenced me to a doctor who specializes more in STD testing and is better at interpreting results.  I spoke to that doctor and he asked me to get the specific numbers from my original two tests.  They were as follows:

HSV-1 igg specific: 76.3
HSV-2 Igg specific: 5.9

and HSV-1 igg specific: 47.0
HSV-2 IGG specfiic: 2.5

The doctor said there must be an issue with the test, since the HSV-1 numbers were off the charts of anything he had seen before.  the tests from the previous doctor were called Herpeselect but on the Diasorin Liason platform.  He educated me this is NOT the standard Herpeselect test that is generally recommended.  He gave me that test, and we did it twice over a month. These were the new results:

HSV-1: 5.93
HSV-2: 0.35

HSV-1: 4.6
HSV_2: 0.25.

I don't know if it is a systematic issue with the Liason test, but apparently it was amplifying results.  

Has anyone had a similar experience?  Wanted to post this, so others can be warned.

[worriedny77]

The thing that was unique here was one of the tests had my hsv2 score well above the 4.0 threshold. That, combined with the extraordinary high score for hsv-1 score makes me think there is something wrong with that particular test - prone to moreinaccuracy than others. It was also consistently wrong for me.

Thanks grace!

[gracefromHHP]

there are false positive issues with all the hsv2 testing which is why we recommend confirmatory testing for the low positives.  we talk about them often and even have an ongoing post on them - http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Herpes/low-positives---confirmatory-results/show/1097724#post_5968138

glad you followed up with further testing to be sure of your hsv2 status :)

grace

[linda9988]

By CDC  hepres blood test not a clear cut and its possible to get a false positive and false negative result. Folow up with your doctor and symptoms.

Thank you.