I really really need some support and advice

[AlexUobby]

Hello, everyone. For 9 month, I have been trying to find out whether I have herpes or not. Here is my story.

9 and half months ago, I have protected oral and vaginal intercourse with a woman with plenty of experiences. It was my first and only sexual intercourse. Then I begin to test for STD.

After all other STD tested, I went to test for herpes.

In 2, 3, 4, 5 week, I have Captia test(I was told by other patient that it was Captia), all negative.

In 6 week, Roche Elecsys, all negative, value is 0.06.

But in 11 week, I took a test produced by a company call Dia.Pro. And HSV II igg positive(HSV I negative). the value is 1.4. And 2 days later, I went to have the same again, and the value is 1.2. 5 days later, I went to have the same test for the third time, the value is 1.9.

Then I returned to another city. And in 16 week, I have Captia and Roche Elecsys test(value 0.073)(the same lab like last time), all negative.

I was so worried. I checked on a local forum, and those people who want to find out whether they have herpes almost all have negative result. That's to say, in those people, false positive happened rarely indeed.

And I checked in Madhelp. There is rarely someone that has a false positive HSV II igg, while HSV I igg was negative.

And I can't have a Western Blot. The law in my country forbids the exports of blood. If I want to have one, I have to go to a country nearby, they will help me to send to UW with 900$. But there is a travel ban because of COVID 19.

I have confirmed almost every lesions by a swab, no positive. Except one lesion, it was 3 month after my exposure, I went climbing that day. And I went home, I slept. But in 3 a.m. in the morning, I felt very itch. And I found a single cut-like 1cm sore with water at the end of my penis. I use the paper to clean the water, and in 9 a.m. when I woke up, it has developed scab.

I am very very confused. I knew this could be a false positive, but after talking with the doctor, I knew it indeed happens rarely. 

Does someone who has the similar experience like I do? Different result of different test?

I felt very very worried, what do you think I should do next?

Will it be helpful if I did the Dia.pro test again and see whether it has jumped to strong positive?

[Flowerteacher55]

Hello! 

I hope you are well. We are here to help you! 🙂 

It is great that you used protection, and went to test for STIs. That is really awesome. It is also great that you knew you had to get tested separately for herpes, as it is not part of a regular STI testing panel. So, awesome job! 🙂 

There are two types of antibodies that the body produces after coming into contact with herpes. They are IgG antibodies and IgM antibodies. IgG antibodies take weeks for the body to produce, and are usually only detected by a test after 12 weeks of having herpes. IgM antibodes are the first antibodies to appear, and usually decrease in number as time passes and IgG antibdies build up. 

The different tests you took test for each of the different antibodies, and that is why some of the tests turned out negative while some turned out positive.

Captia: Captia tests for HSV-2 by detecting IgG antibodies, and there is a seperate kit that tests for HSV-1 antibodies by detecting IgG antibodies.

Roche Elecsys: tests for HSV-2 by detecting IgG antibodies and there is another test kit which tests for HSV-1 by detecting IgG antibodies. 

DiaPro: tests for HSV-2 by detecting IgM antibodies

It makes sense that your results kept coming back negative. It typically takes 12 weeks or longer for IgG antibodies to appear in someone's blood. So, that is why your results kept coming back negative for all the weeks you mentioned, since Captia and Reche Elecsys rely on IgG antibodies which take weeks or months for the body to produce detectable amounts of. 

By week 11, your body seemed to have build up detectable amounts of the anitbodies, so that is why your IgG Diapro test turned out to be positive. The antibody numbers increased even more, which is why it detected a slightly higher antibody count after 5 days. 

If a swab test is done 48 hours or longer after the first appearance of a sore, it can produce a false negative, and swab testing outbreaks that happen after the first outbreak are more likely to come back as a false negative. Swab testing in general can produce false negatives because if a sore was not swabbed completely, or the doctor swabbed a section of a sore that did not have as much virus on it, it produces a false negative. 

Friction can cause sores, and activities like biking or climbing, like you mentioned, can definitely cause sores to appear. Do your sores have a little dimple in the middle (a little indentation in the center?). You mentioned that your sores go through stages of healing, which are similar to the ones you described. The stages a herpes sore goes through are usually a red bump that eventually has a white or cloudy head that oozes, then it crusts or scabs over, and eventually the scab falls off and there is new skin growth. 

I hope that this helps! I would say you do not need to spend money on the Western Blot test. What you can do is wait a little longer and take another IgG-detecting test for HSV-2, such as Diapro, and then see if the antibody count is even higher. 

I am sending you happy, healing thoughts! 🙂 Please reach out if you have any more questions. 

Blessings,

Grace