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20880114 tn?1560799802

Can someone interpret my test results ?

My new girlfriend just went to her doctor and they said that she has herpes. I never had herpes before and im worried so i went and did a herpes test at a lab. I have the results but I don't know how to interpret it.
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
Ok so it looks like for both hsv1 and 2, your results were greater than 5.0, which means you definitely are positive for both types.

Statistically, this means your type 1 is oral, and your type 2 is genital. Many people who have type 1, and then get type 2, have a much milder infection of type 2.

You aren't alone in not knowing you had it - a study done showed that 90% of those with type 2 don't know they have it.

So how did your girlfriend get diagnosed? Did she have symptoms? A blood test?

What does this mean for you now? Well, it depends. Make sure your girlfriend gets whatever testing she has done typed. Even if she has genital symptoms, she could have genital hsv1 if you give her oral sex. This means she could still get hsv2.

If they didn't do a culture with typing, she can get a type specific test like you did. Make sure they do an IgG test, not an IgM test. If her tests are negative now, and positive later, it's a new infection for her. If it's positive now - depending on how long she's had symptoms, if she does have symptoms - it's at least a few weeks old, and you may never know who gave what to whom.

And in essence, that doesn't matter. Clearly, neither of you knew herpes existed in your relationship, so there is no fault here. Herpes testing is rarely included in routing STD testing, so most often, when you're told "you tested negative for everything", it doesn't actually mean "every std there is". It means "everything we tested you for."

You should both read the Herpes Handbook. It's written by Terri Warren, who is one of the world's leading experts on herpes. It's also free - https://westoverheights.com/herpes/the-updated-herpes-handbook/

If this is a long-term, long-haul relationship for you both, nothing should change. She can still have babies, and deliver vaginally so long as she doesn't have an outbreak.

If you have any other questions, let me know. Try really hard to not fall into the blame game. No one ever wins that.

Helpful - 0
2 Comments
Thank you so much.
My GF went to do a check up since this was her first time having sex( may 3rd, and we have been having sex regularly since ). I on the other hand has a bit of an active history.
But two years back I got blisters on my genital area and went to the doctor to check it out about a week after i noticed it wasn't going away. I did on blood test for herpes and a few other STD's and it came up negative. so the doctor told me come back in a week to do them again but he gave me medication in the meantime.The blisters went away before i went to him again. after the week it was still negative and the Dr. ruled it out as friction burns given the situation i described to him.
This is a long term relationship but i'm very worried about how our sex life will be now. ( I'm 24 and she is 23, we are about to leave university )
Seeing that i don't have symptoms should i still go to a Dr. and seek medication?
Again thank you.
Your doctor that tested you originally made some mistakes.

On an IgG blood test, it can take up to 4 months to show positive, and 2 weeks isn't enough time. That's unfortunate, and I'm sorry it happened. It's very common for doctors to make mistakes in herpes testing.

What did her blood test say? What type does she have?

If you both have hsv2, you're fine. You can't give each other what you both already have. If she doesn't have hsv1, that's okay, too, as hsv2 protects against hsv1 (it doesn't work the other way around - if you have hsv1, you are still at risk for hsv1).

I would still avoid sex during outbreaks, only because it can hurt, but you can introduce other bacteria into the open sores, causing an infection.

Oral sex is fine, since you have antibodies to protect you from getting it in another location, and hsv2 doesn't really like the mouth.

If you both have the same type, and transmission isn't an issue (like if she only has type 1 and you have both), then there isn't any reason for you to go on meds. If she only has type 1, then you might want to consider it.

I'd really like to see her test results if she can get them.

Congrats on graduating!

20880114 tn?1560799802
I also uploaded the results as my profile image
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