Herpes -Wouldn't symptoms have a direct correlation to antibodies?
Posted , 3 users are following.
I've search the web for days for the answer to this question but without any success. The problem is this, I had an incident with a prostitute in which I unwittingly (extremely intoxicated) licked her clitorus very briefly. Shortly after this (roughly 4 days) I developed a sore throat. I've been paranoid so I've had a blood test done every week for the last month (all negative), with my last test done at just over 4 weeks (still awaiting results - hence this question). Over this period though my throat has consistantly been sore.
There appears to be conficting information about the "window" period and not much information about percentages of accuracy. What I mean is that with HIV most information is that it is accurate to 95% after 1 month with the right test, but 99.9% at 3 months. There is no such statistics for Herpes.
On average the information is that test should be relatively accurate between 4-6weeks but much higher accuracy at 3 months.
My question is this though. If you have symptoms, whether they be mine (sore throat) or more obvious (cold sores) wouldn't this mean that your body is reacting to the virus. Wouldn't this also lead to the statement that your body would then be producing antibodies. Therefore if you have symptoms or have had symptoms recently wouldn't this increase the accuracy of these tests, irrespective of whether it is at 2 weeks, 4 weeks or 12 weeks?
0 likes, 8 replies
FelizCastus bob89346
Posted
No. You can have a nasty first outbreak days after infection, but still test negative for IgG at 2+ weeks, for example. For HSV IgG, 3 months is the reliable window. Some say 4 or even 6 months, not less, but it is generally agreed that 3 months covers most people. Perhaps your sore throat is just a sore throat. Have you had it swabbed for anything (e.g. herpes, chlamydia, gono), since you're so concerned?
bob89346 FelizCastus
Posted
I did have a swab for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea as these can be picked up quickly after exposure. Both of these returned negative. To be quite frank I was almost hopeful that it might be one of these as they can be cured with medicine.
I didn't mention early (which I should have) is that my lips did slightly crack. This was only minor though and their was no prior blistering or weaping afterwards.
I'm praying that these are all just signs of a normal flu or bad cold but what's really freaking me out is the coincidence of these events occurring after the incident.
brittany65756 FelizCastus
Posted
FelizCastus bob89346
Posted
I honestly think it's just a coincidence and you're overthinking things. Brief oral is pretty low risk. Genital HSV-2 is the only one you have to really worry about and it doesn't favour the oral area. Even if you did get it orally, it would rarely ever outbreak, if at all, would look just like a regular cold sore if it did, and should protect you against getting it genitally! I would try to relax and retest for IgG at 3 months for peace of mind.
FelizCastus brittany65756
Posted
Pre-existing Type 1 can sometimes (not always) crossreact somewhat with the HerpeSelect IgG test for Type 2 causing a low false positive. That's why it's good to know your IgG index values for both HSV types. A high positive is a true positive regardless, as the crossreaction (in those cases where it occurs) is not that significant.
bob89346
Posted
Thanks for your response.
I think one thing I'd like to highlight here is that with Herpes it appears that the Internet really shows it's bad side. Whilst it's a great resource for information due to its openness (anyone can say anything) and the shear volume of information, it operates as a negative, for all these same reasons, when discussing this desease. The amount of disparating information out there is high which combined with what the mental state would be of people searching on this topic, it's a dangerous mix.
I deal with numbers and logic (absolutes) for a living so whenever I come across any subject area that doesn't work along these lines (ie. law, medicine) what I'll attempt to do is try to extract out the logic.
Sorry for the rant but I'm confident that nearly everyone researching this topic is in the same boat.
Once again thanks for your feedback FelisCatus but I just have two further questions/statements:
I'm not a doctor but wouldn't logic dictate that there would be some correlation between symptoms and your antibody production? A physical indication of sickness (ie. sore throat, runny nose) is a sign that the body has identified a virus and has started the process of defense. As such, if this process of defense has commenced then this would also involve the generation of antibodies to attack the virus. Is it that the antibody generation is a separate (ie. longterm strategy) defense mechanism to the physical indicators of infection (white blood cells)? Or is it a case that the process of antibody generation is related to the individual, eg. age, fitness, existing medical conditions, etc?
The common statement that nearly all websites make is that at 3 months your pretty much out of the woods. This is really an "all clear" time period. However, I have noticed that doctors and prominate websites are more pragmatic about it and say between 4 - 6 weeks. Wouldn't it be safe to say (just pulling numbers out of the air) that you have a 50% chance of a correct testing result at 4 weeks and 70%-80% at 6 weeks? The reason I would like to understand these odds is just so that I can operate as a normal functioning human being until I reach the 3 month mark. If I know that I'm at least 50% covered at 4 weeks I can at least process this information and continue to operate normally.
I'm honestly amazed that a desease the supposedly infects between 70%-90% of the human population does not have better information on these facts. Surely some post-graduate medical students could have taken 1000 test cases and identified these facts (ie. windows period after certain exposures per age group, etc).
FelizCastus bob89346
Posted
The thing with the test is that it measures *detectable* antibodies. So, while your body is likely making antibodies early on and during the symptom stage, they do not reach detectable levels for the current tests we have available until after several weeks. People's immune systems are all different, and 3 months is what has been found to capture the vast majority. A negative at 2 months is a very good sign, but should not be taken as an all-clear. Don't forget, some people don't even get symptoms, yet will have antibodies, even at high levels. The correlation between the two is not so simple. Bottom line: IgG tests done before 3 months are not necessarily conclusive, but consistently low numbers is a good sign you don't have it. Rising IgG numbers would be a concern.
bob89346 FelizCastus
Posted
Just a quick update that I have all my results and these are all negative, that is < 0.90. The particular provider I'm using does not provide actual numbers but only the three ranges, ie. < 0.90 (negative), 0.90 - 1.10 (Equivocal) and > 1.10 (Positive).
Given that the tests have been performed at (post exposure in days) 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 42, 56 I'm starting to feel pretty confident that things are OK. I've also seen a dermatologist who did a detailed visual inspection. He stated that based off his inspection, the circumstances and the blood results to-date said that he's almost 100% sure that I don't have Herpes.
However, my concern now is what do I have. I still have a sore throat (over 9 weeks post exposure). My head is now going to HPV - again no medical evidence of this but my head messing with me. Normally when I get sick (ie. flu) I recover pretty quickly (ie. a week). At worst I would have lingering symptoms after 4 weeks, but nothing like 9 weeks. It's weird, the sore throat will suddenly come on for a day or two then be fine for 3 or 4 days. Just seems to cycle but not going away. This is why I'm thinking the worst. I also have had bumps in the corners of my mouth but the Dermatologist said that these were common in men and often caused from shaving (he stated that it was definitely not Herpes). My only concern with the bumps is that I don't normally get these and it seems to much of a coincident that they are occurring now. This combined with all the other "weird" stuff that has happened (ie. cracked lips, rash around groin (I didn't mention this one but it occurred about a week after the incident - STI physician inspected it and stated that it was definitely not Herpes and most likely jock itch, again something I have never had before), etc) has me worried that it is something more than just a simple virus.
I have a appointment with an Ear, Mouth and Nose doctor next week so I'm hoping that they will either be able to diagnose the problem there and then or facilitate test that will finally identify what this is.