HSV 1 genital confusion

I work in china in a stressful job, which I just started. About two months ago I had a red rash on the end of my penis. It wasn't painful, didn't itch, and had no other symptoms...no sensations or tingling or anything. The dr thought it could be herpes and did a blood test. The test came back with low levels of hsv1 ( below the level to be called positive) he said This was indicative of a past infection, as was the fact that I was displaying mild symptoms now. The confusing part is that to my knowledge I never had herpes before, at least no noticeable outbreaks. I should point out that I haven't had any risky exposures recently....the dr said that basically stress and fatigue and being run down, could have caused an outbreak. He said there was no way of determining how long I have had it for. There were big language issues here, so I have been left feeling very confused....any thoughts would be extremely well received!

What I want to know is this....is it possible to have herpes without knowing about it for so long? Can stress really cause outbreaks? Does having a painless red rash even sound like herpes? Is a visual diagnosis enough?

[monkeycircus]

Could this be balantis?

[monkeycircus]

Any comments at all would help me begin to make sense off this situation

[gracefromHHP]

odds are this isn't hsv1 genitally at all. most adults will test + for it and most of us have it orally whether we can recall ever having had any obvious cold sores in the past or not.  your symptoms don't really sound herpes related at all either.

most likely this was irritation or even a fungal infection. is it stillt here or did it go away on its own?

grace

[monkeycircus]

Any ideas?

[monkeycircus]

Thanks for your reply! It's still there....it kind of comes and goes...I'm taking anti fungal cream currently....I hope that clears it up! Herpes seems so confusing....is the rash able to manifest itself in many different ways? Is there a 'classic' hsv 1 genital rash? Or could anything happen?

[gracefromHHP]

typically recurrences are a single lesion and it certainly won't come and go like this.

apply the antifungal cream 2x/day for a full week and see if that helps. sometimes the antifungal powders are more helpful too if the cream doesn't seem to work.

[monkeycircus]

Thank you for your reply...it's put my mind at ease