Featured question

Q: I was diagnosed with oral HSV-1 about ten years ago, and sometimes have cold sores around my mouth. I am constantly washing my hands and am scared it's getting super compulsive. I don't have breakouts very often at all, but I am seriously concerned about spreading it to my eyes and mouth and basically any other part of my body. How likely is it for this to spread to my eyes or mouth? Can the virus spread through clothes? If I have a normal every day itch down there and itch it through my pants can it be spread to my eye or mouth if I don't wash my hands and later itch my eye or face?

A: It is natural to be concerned about spreading HSV-1 to other parts of your body or even to other people. While it's natural to be concerned about "auto-inoculation" - when a person with HSV infects another part of his/her body - it is quite uncommon. While auto-inoculation happens infrequently with initial outbreaks, it truly is not something we want people to worry about . You've already been doing a great job making sure to wash your hands well after touching the affected area where the cold sores exist. Naturally, you wouldn't want to touch your eyes or genitals directly after touching the sores. Keep in mind that the virus is difficult to transfer even if you accidentally forget to wash your hands. Also, to the best of our knowledge herpes is not transmitted through clothing. Hopefully you can relax a little bit knowing that you are already making a great effort to keep your body healthy.

--Gary Richwald, MD, MPH