will it be bad?

[stevey3times]

I've been with a woman with herpes for about 5 months. We've had unprotected sex occasionally during this period. She has not knowingly had an outbreak in about 5 years, and then only had 1 initially. I had a blood test done recently due to curiosity, and my hsv antibody count was "high", according to my doc. I have never had an outbreak, but for the last 2 weeks have had a mildly sore penis, irritation, slight burning. I have read this may be a precurser to an outbreak

I am assuming I have the virus, my doc couldn't confirm this, but now I am having this sympton. Am I very contagious at this point? Whats the possibility of it not developing into sores? Is there a skin application treatment without prescription that will reduce discomfort or longevity?

[waringblender]

Also, if I were you, I'd practice safe sex 100% until you know for sure what types of herpes you both have. If you didn't have type specific testing, you could possibly have been "positive" (or whatever it showed) for type 1, which most people already have orally. Your symptoms may not be due to contracting type 2.

If she knows she has genital herpes, she should talk to her doc about suppressive therapy, use condoms, and get yourself a type specific blood test. Then go from there. Until you both know what types you have or don't have, you can't really make any decisions about what to do about it.

[waringblender]

Suppressive therapy is chronic daily therapy. It means that you are taking enough medication (taken daily) to suppress the virus, or keep the virus from shedding. When the virus sheds, it comes to the surface of the skin, which is how it can infect other people. So you want to decrease the shedding. The only known way to do that is to take medication on a daily basis, one of the antiviral medications (acyclovir, Famvir, or Valtrex).  

Yes, I'd reschedule type-specific blood tests for herpes 1 and 2 for both of you, or at least for you, unless the girlfriend doesn't know what type she has. People can pass the virus to another person without having any outbreaks or symptoms. And people shed without knowing it. It's not often (average ???15% of days in a year), but it happens. Antiviral therapy taken daily can decrease that by about 75%, and it may be even better than that in decreasing it.

[stevey3times]

The doc seemed to think the "high count" indicated exposure to the virus. When I asked if this meant I could infect someone else, he was unsure. He said he would look into it and get back to me. He couldn't answer my questions at the time.
The test was a general herpes test, not specific to type 1 or 2, I suppose thats the next step. The girlfriend is not on suppressive therapy, and has never taken anything for treatment.  I'll find out about her blood test results. what is suppressive therapy?

[waringblender]

I'm not sure what a "high antibody count" means. Did you get type specific blood testing? If so, you need to know the numerical result and have it interpreted as positive or negative.

Is your girlfriend on suppressive therapy?  It doesn't matter if she hasn't had outbreaks in years; suppressive therapy is still the gold standard for protecting a negative partner. If you are in fact positive, though, you can use Valtrex or one of the other antiviral medications to help with your symptoms. (If you are having symptoms of outbreaks.)

Did you get tested before you started having sex with her to find out your baseline herpes status? For that matter, has she been blood tested for herpes?