![]() ![]() In my case, there was such a lab about 15 minutes away, but it closed about 6 months ago. If you live in a city or can travel to a city that has an AnyLabTestNow, we can use them to draw your blood, spin and ship it." So obviously, you need to have an "AnyLabTestNow" clinic in your area that you can physically go to. The other option that Westover Heights provides is the following message, "After seven years of doing our western blot study, Quest laboratories will no longer transport our western blot samples for us. But you can order through the University of Washington directly if your health care provider will agree to order it for you." However, there is a message that appears right before you book your online consultation that says the following, "We can no longer order the western blot for you– at least for now, but we are working on that. So I was actually on that web site before I made my original post here, and I had actually started signing up for an "eVisit" with Terri Warren though the Westover Heights center. And of course I don't have an active HSV-2 outbreak now.Īnyways, the doctor drew a blood sample for those 3 tests (no swabbing was done), which will come back with results in 10 days. Regarding test #3, my understanding was that the IgM test (as opposed to IgG) was more suited to detecting the antibodies that occur during an active infection. Regarding test #2, this is the same test that already came back positive, so I expect to get the same result again. So how would PCR be able to detect the virus in a blood sample? This didn't make any sense to me as I thought the HSV-2 virus was not present in your bloodstream, but rather lived in certain nerve tracts. But the doctor argued that HSV-2 PCR test can be serologically. Regarding test #1, my understanding was that a PCR test could only be done by swabbing an active sore, which of course I don't have any active sores. This recommendation runs contrary to everything I've read online about HSV-2 detection. I guess you can't get this magical Western Blot test anywhere, despite numerous articles about it online.Īnyways, my primary care doctor ordered the following 3 tests, which he claimed are the "gold standard" for HSV-2" My primary care doctor had never heard of such a test, so he scoffed at the idea anyways. Well, turns out the U of Washington phone number is out of service. But I digress.).Īnyways, I printed out the following information for my doctor:Īnd took this information to my primary care doctor and told them I wanted them to order this test and to call the listed phone number and follow the instructions on that page. Imagine the resulting calamity if we allowed such a thing. (Because, god forbid I choose to pay for a medical test myself without a mystical doctor's permission. The test is apparently only done at the University of Washington, and needs to be ordered by a doctor. The advice on all the online articles I read was to get a Western Blot test for HSV-2, which everyone proclaims as the "gold standard" and much more reliable than the HSV-2 IgG test. I wonder why the HSV-2 IgG test has an "indeterminate" level of 0.91 - 1.09, because it seems that the test is pretty indeterminate all the way up to a level of 3.5 or so, based on the online literature. It seems like the HSV-2 IgG test is not ideally suited to my situation, especially considering that my level came back as only 2.2. I read a variety of online articles like these: I've had no known exposure to HSV-2 as my only partner since my last battery of STD tests is negative for HSV-2. I've never had a genital outbreak of any kind.Ĥ. I definitely have HSV-1 (since childhood), which is known to cause false positives for the HSV-2 IgG test.ģ. My HSV-2 IgG test came back at a level of only 2.2, which is quite low and in the gray area (although the official level for a positive result is only 1.1)Ģ. The result of my online lay research was that I seem to be a prime candidate for a false positive for HSV-2, based on the following factors:ġ. That didn't make any sense to me, as I'd been in a monogamous relationship (with someone who does not have HSV-2) since the last time I was tested many years ago. Well, to my surprise, my HSV-2 result also came back positive. We both disclosed to the other that we both had HSV-1 with occasional cold-sores. I recently started a new relationship with a girl and we both agreed to get tested for STDs. ![]()
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