Fear of autoinoculation from masturbating with saliva

[scaredofherp]

On 03/24, I had a unprotected oral sexual encounter with another male.  Both giving and receiving.  There was also some body contact, but no genital intercourse.  I asked him if he had herpes or ever had an outbreak.  He said no.  I am paranoid about contracting herpes.  Around 03/28, I developed what looked like a cut in the corner of my lips.  It was sort of painful.  My lips had been pretty chapped.  But by that 03/31, after tons of lip balm and care you could not tell that anything had been there.  I never had any blisters, etc.  In fact, I had my dermatologist look at it on 04/03 and she couldn't see anything there.  Fast forward to today, 04/17 - I have not had any blistering or any genital lesions.  I even had my dermatologist check out my entire genital area.  She said I was completely clear.  Early this afternoon, I masturbating using my own saliva.  My fear is that the incident around 03/28 could have been my initial outbreak of oral herpes (granted a mild one) and that by using my saliva to masturbate I could have spread any oral HSV infection to my genitals.  I have been tested within the past year for HSV 1 and 2 and I am negative for both (IGG testing).  My question is how fearful of autoinoculation should I be.  Is 3 weeks after potential exposure sufficient time to prevent autoinoculation?  I should also add that my mouth is currently without any visual signs of HSV, however I am concerned about autoinoculation from asymptomatic shedding from my masturbating incident.  My nerves are an absolute wreck.  Thanks for your help!

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

I don't have a percentage for you for that particular risk.  I would say it is low, but I can't tell you specifically how low.  By three weeks from infection, 50% of people have detectable antibody in those infected.  Yes, since you are negative for both I would expect you might notice even the most minor symptoms, especially since you are watching so carefully.

Terri

[scaredofherp]

Thanks Terri.  I understand that both areas were initially exposed during the initial encounter.  However, let's say that HSV only infected my oral area during the initial encounter and did not affect me genitally during the encounter.  What is the possibility of me spreading the oral HSV-1 or HSV-2 to my genitals from using my own saliva to masturbate three weeks and two days after the initial encounter?  Would I have built up sufficient antibodies at that point to avoid spreading the virus from the point of initial infection to other places on my body susceptible to HSV?  What are my odds?  Less than 1 percent?  Also, since I am HSV 1 and 2 negative wouldn't my initial outbreak include the typical symptoms of a herpes outbreak -- fluid filled blisters, ulceration, scabbing, healing, etc with a total process over two to three weeks?  I am just trying to give myself some sort of peace of mind to get me to the end of the window period so I can have the proper testing completed.  Thanks for all your help.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

I understand that you are concerned about the possible consequences of this encounter.  Let's think this through:  if you both kissed and received oral sex from this man, then it seems to be that both your penis and your mouth were at about the same amount of risk.  So the risk of autoinoculation isn't substantial at all, given that both sites on your body were already exposed.  

So to me the question is did you acquire HSV at all in the encounter.  Since you've tested negative on IgG testing in the past for both types, you could, at some point, test again to see if anything has changed.  Keep in mind the test you will be using isn't fabulous for HSV 1, much better for HSV 2 in my experience.  And also keep in mind that many people have HSV 1 with absolutely no symptoms ever.  

I guess what I"m saying is that the risk of infecting yourself at a new location is really low, in answer to your main question.  Does that help?

Terri