question on testing - Herpes Message Board

dolysods · 11-01-2008, 07:23 PM

I have a friend that i recently met that says she has herpes. A guy that she was dating (he was a dentist) said he now had it and he must have gotten it from her. I know that isn't a absolute. Over the last couple years she has had 2 western blot tests and they are negative. She had a irritation and went to a clinic to get it swabbed. The nurse or doctor said, why would you think this is herpes? of course it was negative.

Is there anything else that she can try? I tried telling her that she does not have it and accept it. Now she says, well i've dated someone with herpes now so i have it.

i've run into people here and otherwise that get so paranoid that they have it but none that have it and the tests are wrong etc.

Truthseek · 11-02-2008, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dolysods

I have a friend that i recently met that says she has herpes. A guy that she was dating (he was a dentist) said he now had it and he must have gotten it from her. I know that isn't a absolute. Over the last couple years she has had 2 western blot tests and they are negative. She had a irritation and went to a clinic to get it swabbed. The nurse or doctor said, why would you think this is herpes? of course it was negative.

Is there anything else that she can try? I tried telling her that she does not have it and accept it. Now she says, well i've dated someone with herpes now so i have it.

i've run into people here and otherwise that get so paranoid that they have it but none that have it and the tests are wrong etc.

You don't mention any time frame from sexual partner to sexual partner and those tests. The western blot done at the University of Washington is considered to be the 'gold standard' of herpes blood tests. If she had two negative tests done with no sexual partners in between then I would trust the negative result. The problem becomes if she has new sexual partners then the target keeps moving. 3 -4 months out after a sexual encounter GENERALLY is enough time to produce antibodies that will show up in the western blot. But for some people on this board it took six months to show up positive.

dolysods · 11-02-2008, 05:41 AM

i think she had about 8 months in between the tests. She has only had maybe 3 partners total. The one partner made the claim about maybe 2 yrs ago or more. I'll have to get more info. I wasn't sure if the IgG would make a difference or not.