Guest guest Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 My son had some testing done several weeks ago with Dr G. The HHV-6 Human Herpes Virus 6..the IgG Antibodies showed >1:320 which means it is positive. Wheras the Human Herpes Virus Type 6 IgM is negative. I am just wondering whether this is significant and what the difference is between the IgG to IgM. K 3.2 year old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 Hi - IgM tests positive w/a recent infection - meaning it will (usually) only test positive at the initial time that the virus occurs. IgG is the antibodies built against the virus that I think are responsible for keeping it suppressed (?), and if a virus re-activates, then the IgG increases in response to it. (I'm not 100% certain of how accurately I am describing this.) As the virus remains suppressed, the IgG antibodies will still remain present but reduce some. How high IgG antibodies go depend on too many factors to tell you as much as you'd like to know. Like, when antibodies are real high, it could mean that the virus has re-activated at a recent time, or it could mean that the immune system may still be pumping out antibodies, or that it is having trouble keeping it suppressed. Another thing: HHV6 antibodies can be negative despite the presence of the virus, and sometimes does not become positive until after an antiviral has been given and 'pulled' the virus out for the immune system to recognize. HHV6 has the ability to hide from it. Say you had a negative HHV6 (my son did), and you started antivirals anyway due to other markers for chronic viral infections. Say you recheck titers to HHV6 several times along the way, and suddenly one time that test comes up positive and you have a high IgG and no IgM... that would be a pretty good indication that it wasn't a recent infection but that the immune system had not been building antibodies to it. It happened w/my son, but unfortunately the lab didn't do the IgM so I didn't have that to take back to local doctors and say " See? See? " . There are a lot more possibilities involved, but that is just one scenario. In your child's case, the immune system is recognizing the virus. It isn't necessarily that recent of an infection if there is a negative IgM. I don't know if that level of antibodies is high or not, but my son had that same reading. So if you find out if that's high, moderate, or common, would you let me know? I'd appreciate it, as I never actually knew where that falls. Did Dr G already say if it's high and if he wants that to come down? --- aaron2kristie <aaron2kristie@...> wrote: > My son had some testing done several weeks ago with > Dr G. The HHV-6 > Human Herpes Virus 6..the IgG Antibodies showed > >1:320 which means it > is positive. Wheras the Human Herpes Virus Type 6 > IgM is negative. I > am just wondering whether this is significant and > what the difference > is between the IgG to IgM. > > K > 3.2 year old > > > > > > __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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