question on viral load for HSV 2 and medicine

[Azwoman]

I am A 38 yr old female and I was told I have gen. Herpes....several yrs ago I had a pimple like bump on my private area and it got bigger, etc. I went to gyn who did culture and yep, genital herpes and I was horrified..I think I've been in a little denial over it since I have not had any sore or outbreak since that one lesion 8 yrs ago and no one knows about this. I had my annual womanly exam and I got tested for everything...everything came back neg except of course the HSV2. The office sent me a copy in the mail and I am looking at them. It says my HSV2 is above 5.0....the reference range is if it's above 1.0 it is positive. Wow..that seems a little high. Is it? I called the nurse and left a msg on this. The doc already suggested a prescription but with the fact I haven't had anything in so long....is it really necessary to take it? Please advise.

[gracefromHHP]

let's discuss this in your own post :)  Make a new one about your situation so we can help you better without it getting confusing in AZ's post as to who we are talking to - thanks!

grace

[gracefromHHP]

we don't measure viral load with hsv2 like we do hiv.  the igg result is not the same as viral load.

A hsv2 igg being > 5 just means that it's not likely to be a false positive.   Nothing concerning about a result over 5 and it's not a reflection of the "severity" of your infection or anything like that.

totally up to you if you treat your herpes or not. I do totally 2nd petal's advice about reading the handbook as well as if you have a regular partner, them being tested and discussing together what precautions to take together to reduce the odds of infection to them if they are currently hsv2 negative ( as confirmed by igg blood testing ).  A lack of frequent recurrences is not a reflection of your "contagiousness" or anything of that sort as is explained in detail in the handbook suggested.

keep asking questions!

grace

[flow1987]

Hey Petal. Didn't want to post a new question, but I feel just a little bit of denial of my HSV-2 diagnosis, but I know for a fact I have a genital herpes infection. I just feel it might be HSV-1, because I hear HSV-1 and HSV-2 are sometimes hard to distinguish in blood tests and whatnot, and maybe my HSV infection in my genitals is HSV-1.

Here are the statistics of what was done.

When my blood was taken in outbreak (I don't get sores on my genitals, but rather IN, it's called herpetic urethritis) the IgG screen optical density index read as 5.11, and the HSV-II optical density index read 1.72. The IgM optical density index was 1.54.

Seeing as Azwoman's viral load was at 5.0 for HSV-2, and only my HSV-2 was MUCH lower and my HSV-1 viral load was as high, and my herpes symptoms are worse in my genitals and fever blisters never present themselves on my lips and stuff, all of this sounds just a bit screwy, don't you think?

[petal130]

At this point you know you have HSV2, and so you have to think about how you want to treat it (if at all) and manage it with your sexual partner. The value that came back from testing means nothing other than you are positive for HSV2, at this point there's no hidden meaning to whether it's 4.3 or 5.0 or 6.1 - all are positive.

I highly suggest for starters reading the Herpes Handbook here:
http://www.westoverheights.com/genital_herpes/handbook/view_the_chapters.html

You say "no one knows", which is surely your prerogative, however, you really must inform your sexual partner, so they can a) get tested to know their own herpes status, and b) you can both then decide how you want to manage it going forward (condoms/suppressive therapy).  Even without symptoms, the virus at times "sheds", meaning it's active - and thus transmittable - even with no symptoms.

Should your partner be HSV2 negative, and you decide to use condoms and take suppressive therapy, there's about a 99% chance annually he WON'T get herpes. Even if you chose to not use either, and just avoid sex during an outbreak, it's still about a 96% chance annually that he won't get herpes. Pretty good odds! But still, you need to make your partner aware of your herpes status.

So as to taking suppressive therapy, it really comes down to reducing outbreaks (which you haven't had in 8 years), and reducing viral shedding and thus transmission to your partner. It really just depends what you and your partner decide to do.