Herpes 25 years later?

I have been married for 25 years...I just experienced my first outbreak of genital herpes.  At least that is what it appears to be, I am getting it checked tomorrow and I also have a cold sore on the inside cheek of my mouth.   My husband does not have or has never had any symptoms of herpes.  We have both been faithful...I am sure of that.  I was not so sure of my ex-husband 25 years ago...hence the "ex".   Could herpes have been dormant for this many years?  Over the years I have had things that I chaulked up to "pimple" or "ingrown hair"....nothing really serious....maybe, maybe once a year.   How has my husband not picked up this herpes over all these years?  Can herpes not infect people?

[jelyse]

It is very possible that you could have had this for 25 years and never had an outbreak till now or you could be having more obvious symptoms. the best way you can see if this is a newly aquired infection is to have the genital sores/lesions swabbed and then also get an igg type specific blood test at the same time. if the culture comes back positive and the blood test comes back negative then this is likely to be a new infection, as the swab will detect the virus present on the skin but your body has not yet produced antibodies so the blood test cannot detect the virus. If you get this result then you should get a follow up igg blood test in 3 months time. Also the culture should be typed to know if this hsv1 or hsv2. Have you ever had a coldsore? and in regards to the coldsore inside of your mouth, as far as i know you dont get them inside of your mouth only on the lips and surrounding skin . canker sores are what you get on the inside of your mouth and these arent contagious and have nothing to do with herpes.

[jelyse]

also your husband needs to be tested aswell, regardless of symptoms or not. I hope everything turns out ok for you : )

[gracefromHHP]

in answer to your other question in one of your other posts, no, no way to know how long you've been infected if this isn't a newly acquired infection for you.  As jelyse already correctly said - if your lesion culture is + and your blood test is negative for that type then you know it's newly acquired if it's hsv2. things arent quite  as clear for hsv1 due to the blood tests not being as good at detecting hsv1 as hsv2 but once you and your husband have your test results back, you'll have better answers.

grace

[Joed9]

How long can a lesion be viable for a culture?  The scabbing is just about over and there is only redness on the adjacent one.  They started 10 days ago.  If they are not viable for testing will the blood testing still tell me if I have hsv1or hsv2?  My husband is getting tested as well.

[gracefromHHP]

ideally cultures need to be done within 48 hours of the lesions appearing. if they are scabbing, it's way too late for lesion culture.

keep asking questions - hopefully we can help you figure this all out soon!

grace

[Joed9]

I am going in this afternoon for testing.  I presume I will only get a blood test.   Will that be sufficient for detection of my own hsvi or hsv2?  Do I ask for a specific test?  Thank you for all this information.

[gracefromHHP]

at this point the best answers will be if you and your husband both get type specific herpes igg blood tests done.  you also should get tested for yeast and bacterial infections vaginally too while you are there.

grace