Hello, Betsy.

Like most on this forum I am very shocked, scared and uncomfortable. Two years ago My boyfriend gave me oral sex. The next morning he woke up and noticed that he was getting a cold sore on his lip. I freaked as I had never had a cold sore ever in my life. I began doing research and realized that yes indeed you can get genital herpes from a cold sore. I was in anguish. Another year went by and I still did not have symptoms orally or genitally. In July 2009 I went to go get std testing and my blood work came back HSV1 positive. Since I had never had an outbreak orally or genitally, the doctor said like most people; I had probably contracted it orally.
I assumed that I had it orally and lived my life as if it wasn't a big deal.

FACTS AND STATISTICS WOULD BE NICE!!!!!

May 2010. My current boyfriend of 6 months gives me oral sex knowingly having a cold sore. I kind of freaked but knew I was Hsv 1 positive so didn't think much of it. 3 days later I notice a sore on the upper portion of my vagina. everyone said it was probably an ingrown hair and to forget about it, but deep inside I just couldn't. I made an appointment to have a doctor look at it. She said it didn't look like a herpe but took a swab to be sure. 6 days later the test results came in and to my agony, the results said that it was positive for hsv1. I NOW HAVE HSV 1 genital herpes. I AM SICK..... I feel like I don't want to live. I've done lots of research and I guess when I put it all in perspective I feel ok but after doing 3 days of research I called my doctor to see if what I found was accurate and she told me I knew more about it than she did. I just want to talk to some people who have had hsv 1 genitally for awhile. I want to hear their stories and experiences so I know what to expect for the rest of my life. now for a few questions. Thanks for listening.
1) I have always made the men I am with get their blood work done and all three men I have had relations with in the past 5 years have been hsv1 positive. before I realized I had hsv1 genitally, we all assumed that I had it orally and I never took precautions otherwise. I am still friends with all 3 men, and one of them I am still in a relationship with. None of them to our knowledge has ever had genital symptoms or had contracted the virus form me genitally. Can we be pretty certain that if they have hsv1 orally that they will not contract my hsv1 infection genitally??? is it 100%??? and if not, what is the percentages? As long as my partners are hsv1 orally positive is it ok to have unprotected sex with no risk of transmission as long as I do not have an ob??
2) What if I meet someone that is not hsv1 orally positive. I have no problem talking about my infection. In fact, I have told EVERYONE i know including past lovers. No one thinks it's a big deal except for me. But what if I do meet someone who is hsv1 negative. What do we do??? Will we always have to use protection since I have hsv1 genitally and he doesn't? I understand that asymptomatic shedding is between 3 and 5 % of the days, and we don't know when those 12 days are occurring so it would be possible to transmit the virus to someone's genitals on those 12 days right???? I know 2 days out of the year is pretty low, but still a possible risk.
3) What about having a normal pregnacy and delivery?? I have always wanted a home birth and a midwife and now I feel like that way of birthing is no longer an option. Are there any statistics on women with hsv1 who have ob during delivery? And how many pass it to their babies???? Do woman with hsv1 genitally get to have home birthings? Do most woman with herpes have normal healthy babies?
thanks. I am so worried to pass this infection to someone even to my partner even though we have been having unprotected sex for 6 months and he is already hsv1 positive.
Thanks for your help and if you know of any real true stories of couples or people with hs1 genital herpes can you please pass them on.
Thanks

Having oral sex performed on you when a partner had an active cold sore present upped the odds of you contracting it genitally even though you already had it assumed orally yourself. That was exposing you to active virus while the oral sex provided the heat and friction needed to transmit it to you. Yes indeed the risk of this occurring was lowered due to your previous hsv1 status but not zero. Hindsight though as they say is always 20/20 and you can't change what happened. I wouldn't necessarily assume that you had it genitally and didn't know it if that is the assumption.

When it comes to hsv1 genitally, about 1/2 of folks who have it, never get another recurrence. of those who do , the average is 1 additional ob the first year and then 1 ob every other year. Only a small percentage of folks get recurrences more frequently than that.

When you have a hsv1 negative partner, odds still are that you won't transmit your hsv1 to them. Avoid sex any time you have anything going on genitally and also discuss if it's worthwhile to only have protected oral sex or not.

absolutely no reason why you can't still have a home birth and also have a vaginal birth. No obvious lesions at the time of delivery and the risk of transmission of your genital herpes is less than 1%. if you should happen to have a recurrence the week you are due or at the time of delivery then yes a c section is warranted. You can also take daily suppressive therapy in the pregnancy doses for the last month of pregnancy to help put the odds in your favor of not having active symptoms so that you can still deliver at home as long as everything else about your pregnancy is normal.

betsy

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ASHA Moderator

So do you think this is a new infection since I had an ob a few days after receiving oral sex from someone with a cold sore, or do you think this could have been dormant in my system for two years since I recall having oral sex two years ago with my boyfriend who also had a cold sore???

Let me get this straight cause i want to make sure I do not pass this infection on...

If my current or future partners are hsv1 positive then I need to take no precautions or use protection. Is this correct???? Obviously when I do not have an ob it's not smart to have sex but what about if I am asymptomatic shedding??? Will they be immune even if I am asymptomatic shedding??

Also you said that even if my partner is hsv1 negative that I probably won't transmit my infection genitally, but we should discuss protection for oral sex. I don't understand. If I am asymptomatic shedding, then it is possible to transmit my infection anywhere to an uninfected hsv1 negative person right???

odds are it is a new one genitally for you.

if we assume you had hsv1 orally and just had never had a cold sore that you could recall, you are shedding the virus periodically orally too. The rates of shedding of hsv1 orally are higher than they are genitally. That is why discussing whether to have protected oral sex or not with your partner is important - you giving oral to them as well as them performing oral on you. You would be more likely to transmit your oral hsv1 infection to them than your genital hsv1 infection.

You can transmit your hsv1 from genitals to genitals but the odds of having sex on a day you are actively shedding the virus genitally are very low.

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ASHA Moderator

Great, so I probably have it orally and genitally??? Is there anyway to know if I have it orally, and if I do, why would I get a genital ob and never an oral ob if the mouth is it's site of preference?

12 days or two weeks out of the year is still a risk that some hsv1 negative people may not want to take. Is shedding consecutive or sparatic?? I've read there is no way to know when shedding occurs is that correct?? If people have a lot of sex, it is likely that they would have sex on those asymptomatic shedding days so that risk is scary.

SIMPLE TIPS ON HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE RESPONSIBLY WITH THIS WOULD BE NICE
Are precautions and protection necessary with no out breaks if my partner is hsv1 positive? What about asymptomatic shedding?? Will their hsv1 anti bodies be enough to fight the virus while I am shedding with no symptoms?

1) Has anyone ever passed their hsv1 infections to their partners genitals while their partners have been hsv1 positive??? what about to partners that are hsv1 negative? I have heard that if people already have oral hsv1 that it is highly unlikely (around 98%) that they will not contract it genitally if sex is avoided with ob's. My current boyfriend whom gave me this and every other man I have been with has been hsv1 positive. Should I use protection with my current boyfriend or is it safe not to because he already has the anitbodies??

2) What is the longest anyone has ever gone without an ob, and is there any supplements, vitamins or herbs that anyone can suggest to prevent ob's? Are ob's always in or around the same place as the first ob? Mine was up above my clitoris near my hair line. Is this where it will likely always be or do I need to watch out for them around my lips and vaginal openings as well?

3) I heard asymptomatic shedding is 3-/5% of the days a year. That is 12 days or roughly two weeks out of the year that you could potentially pass your infection on to a person who is hsv1 negative. Has this happened to anyone, and how often has genital to genital transmission of hsv1 occurred? I would like to know real life experiences.

4) I heard with hsv2 that the outbreaks and viral shedding decrease with time. Does anyone know for a fact that this is true with genital hsv1?? Does asymptomatic decrease with time, and if so then wouldn't shedding be so minimal that you really wouldn't be at risk of transmission??
Thanks for all the imput and if anyone wants to share their experiences and life stories with hsv1 I would greatly appreciate it.

I've had genital hsv 1 almost two years and have only had the initial outbreak. It was the most painful thing ever. I have not had sex since and find myself angry at people that have random sex that don't even know the other person. Ugh. I so didn't deserve this. My ex that gave me it via oral sex had had cold sores and we do believe I passed it to him genitally when I had the initial outbreak and continued to have sex. I didn't know what was going on. Had I known I would have stopped. It is possible to pass it on. I still don't get the statistics. How can so many people have it orally yet so many people are also contracting it genitally? It only makes sense that you can still pass it on even if you have it in one location, right?

Hi and thanks for your post. Yes, herpes - regardless of whether it's oral or genital - can be transmitted. Having herpes in one location (orally, for example) doesn't prevent one from also contracting a genital infection.

HSV-1 and HSV-2 are essentially the same virus, with the main difference being genetic tweaks that lead type 1 to prefer oral tissue and type 2 normally being found in genital infections. Either type can be experienced as an oral or genital infection, though.

Let us know if you have other questions. Post anytime.

Best,
Fredo

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ASHA Moderator

Hi Fredo,
I understand what you are saying about how I could still contract hsv2 even though I have Hsv1. The part that I don't understand is how my ex got cold sores (hsv1) but still was able to catch hsv1 genitally. Betsy seems to say that the chance of catching the same virus (hsv1) in this case, in both the mouth and genitals is rare. I'm still so freaked out that I would spread this to someone else even if they already had hsv1 orally. I'm not totally buying that the transfer percentage is as low as she makes it sound....although I'd really like to believe it.

If so many people have it orally hsv1, how is it that genital hsv1 is the STD on the rise in colleges for girls? It only makes sense that you can catch the same thing in two places easily right?

I appreciate your site a lot!!!! That part doesn't make sense to me. Thanks for explaining:)

It's not clear if you ex was actually diagnosed with genital herpes and if so, whether or not it was "typed" to see if it's HSV-1 or -2. A substantial minority of genital infections involve HSV-1 and you would think some of those occur in people with a history of cold sores, so having oral HSV-1 won't confer complete protection against getting the same strain genitally. In such cases outbreaks would probably be mild, few and far between, and the genital infection would most often be unrecognized. Betsy can weigh in with more!

Fredo

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ASHA Moderator

I have been wondering the same things as the first girl who posted and have desperately been trying to find answers.
I've read that there is an 18% chance of oral to oral hsv 1 asymptomatic transmission and about a 5% chance or so of genital to genital asymptomatic transmission. I just want to confirm that this was true. As well, I would just like to reiterate the previous question of whether there was a decreased chance of transmission if the partner already has antibodies to oral hsv 1.

Thanks,

I think you are misunderstanding the info you have. The info the herpes handbook uses is that hsv1 orally is active 18% of days and hsv1 genitally is active 3-5% of days. It's not the risk of transmission, it's how often the virus is active - ie 18 out of every 100 days or a little over a total of 2 months out of the year total.

Having hsv1 orally gives you significant protection against contracting hsv1 genitally later on. It can happen but the risk of it happening is very low and we don't often see it.

betsy

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ASHA Moderator