So how were you diagnosed with genital HSV 1 infection? Swab test?
Your doctor is correct in many aspects but not all. An outbreak on the thigh is very likely a reactivation of herpes acquired genitally. this most frequently happens when one receives oral sex from a person with cold sore virus present - a sore does NOT need to present at the time of receiving the oral sex for transmission to occur. He is correct that 56% of the US population between 14-49 has HSV 1 infection, so it is more common to have HSV 1 than to not have it. We don't know how much of that is genital and how much is oral, but the majority of new cases of genital herpes in people in their 20's is HSV 1, acquired from oral sex most likely. HSV 1 genitally is shed on only about 5% of days sampled (so out of 100 days of self swabbing, we see virus present on 5 of those). It recurs infrequently as well. However, he is incorrect in saying that because your lesions are on the thigh, you won't shed from the penis. The virus is present in the entire group of nerves in that area and can be given off, even without symptoms, from the penis and anus (not the thigh).
So now you have some answers, do you have more questions?
Terri
I would ask that they be swab tested by PCR when they are new. Just because your blood test went from negative to positive, doesn't PROVE that you have genital herpes, it could be oral. And it is also possible that the test missed your HSV 1 the first time and picked it up the second time. The test is quite disappointing in its performance for HSV 1.
Terri
No I am not on anti virals ... This was my primary outbreak and I want to see how my body responds to the virus to see if I can do it without medication ... But it has been a month now of constant tingles and what seems to be more lesions popping up on my thigh ... All in different places but they are never blisters ... It is really weird none of my lesions have been blistery they look like little pimples or dermitits .... Should I have them tested? They are clustered like typical herpes but they really don't look like any of the pics seen online ...
1. We don't have those statistics, but it is less than HSV 2 and depends on the antibody status of the other person involved, obviously.
2. I think it will, if the tingling is due to herpes.
3. Sometimes with a first infection, the virus remains pretty active on the nerve for a while. Have you taken antiviral therapy to try to deal with these symptoms?
Terri
Hi Terri...Thank you for getting back to me. I was diagnosed earlier this summer. About two weeks after having sex with a new partner I started to feel all the symptoms that accompany herpes. Then came the lesions on my inner thigh. We did not swab the area, but I had a blood test done (IGG) and came back .01 for HSV 2, and >5.0 for HSV1 (Also I have had these blood tests done about 2 years ago with a previous girlfriend and they both came back negative at the time).
I only have a few basic questions I think you will be able to help me with:
1. My worry is transmitting it to someone who isn't already infected. How likely is genital to genital transmission?
2. Will the back pain and tingling ever go away to where I feel like I did before contracting the virus?
3. Whenever I feel the tingling does that mean I am shedding, because I have been feeling the tingling now for about a month even though my lesions have healed up and gone away?
Thank you for your time.