Herpes Questions

Is it true that men are less likely to catch herpes? I know the chances are high, but I'm just wondering. Also, if there isn't an outbreak, does that also reduce the chance of contraction? And, if you were to get tested, but had oral herpes, would you come up positive for HSV2? So say I had oral herpes, and didn't know, and wanted to get tested for genital herpes, and didn't actually have genital herpes, would I come up positive?

Thanks for everyone's help!

[treesnake]

The viruses would come up seperate on the tests. HSV1 and HSV2 are totally seperate. Did you have an exposure?

[worriedsick129]

I'm not sure i had exposure or not... I had unprotected oral and vaginal sex with a girl i met while she was in a beauty pageant i met over the weekend.

what do you think the odds are? i talked to her and she says shes fine and clean...

[gracefromHHP]

a one time encounter is low risk.

grace

[petal130]

A man's risk is less than a woman's for contracting genital herpes, yes. If you have oral HSV1, then yes, you can in fact get genital HSV2 as well. If a person has HSV1 but not HSV2, then yes the blood test would come back positive for HSV1. A blood test doesn't tell the location of the infection however, especially if one has never had symptoms. However, most oral herpes cases are HSV1 (HSV2 orally is very rare), and most genital herpes are HSV2 (about 1/3 of all new genital infections are HSV1).

Here are odds based on female to male transmission of genital herpes.

FEMALE TO MALE RATE OF TRANSMISSION (HSV2 ONLY STATS IS NOT APPLICABLE FOR HSV1)

If you have 100 couples where the female has HSV2 but not the male (these figures are over a year) the odds of female to male transmission are, if you do nothing other than avoid sex during an outbreak, 4 men out of a 100 will get herpes in a year, or 4%. If you do go on a suppressive therapy then it drops to 2 men out of a 100 in a year, or 2%. And if you use suppressive and a condom the chances are 1 man out of a 100 will get herpes in one year or 1%.

The Valtrex and transmission study stats are based on having sex 2 times/week.

Become educated even further by reading the Herpes Handbook.
http://www.westoverheights.com/genital_herpes/handbook/view_the_chapters.html