blood results - Herpes Message Board

tylergibson · 03-22-2003, 02:10 AM

Ok I just got some blood results back..its the IGN/IGG tests that detect the difference between 1 and 2. apparently though the 2 different tests detect different antibodies. anyhow, the first one came back postitive for type one --which meant i had been exposed to type one sometime in my life, which 90 percent or so of people are. i was convinced i had type one herpes on my genitals, due to a couple weeks of itching and some lesion i found, though it didnt look like a classic blister. anyhow the 2nd test came back and said negative for both types of herpes..the dr said this means that i wasnt exposed recently to type one, and that it probably rules out my recent symptoms as a herpes OB. can anyone comment on this? i know there are false test results sometimes

mrwindow · 03-22-2003, 02:03 PM

what was your numbers for IgG and IgM and how long did you wait to take the test after the last time you had sex and thought you were exposed to it?? those antibodies take a amount of time to develop in your body. and diffferent test take a defferent amount of time to tell. this is called seroconverting.

TheOneInFour · 03-24-2003, 10:52 AM

Hi TG,

I'm not a health professional and don't completely understand how the IgG and IgM test results work. What I'm finding on websites about it is that the IgM is not able to detect between HSV-1 and HSV-2, so it's not very useful. IgG can detect different types but you don't give specific information about your test results on this.

What I *do* know is that the modern blood tests can tell you *IF* you have a particular type (given enough time to build up antibodies), but it won't tell you *WHERE* the infection is (and therefore where lesions will be found). That means that even though you have (apparently) tested positive for HSV-1, there is no way to know from these test results if your genital symptoms ARE in fact herpes (of any type). You're going to have to get a swab culture (preferably the PCR DNA test, which is more sensitive) on FRESH symptoms (ideally within the first 48 hours of when they appear) in order to find out about those particular symptoms.

Keep us posted.

TheOneInFour