Is contact okay before symptoms?

I had oral and genital contact with someone with oral herpes recently. I have not seen symptoms, but it's not been very long.

I want to know whether it would make a difference to wait the 20 days that sometimes goes between infection and first symptoms. It will be around 8 days, instead.

Basically: Is there a difference between my chances of infecting another person *before having symptoms* as compared with after having symptoms and having no sores? Would waiting help?

I'm 23, male, and have never had any symptoms of oral herpes that I'm aware of.

[gracefromHHP]

a newly acquired infection would be more contagious at this point.

a lack of obvious cold sores does not mean a lack of infection.

grace

[gracefromHHP]

if you contracted herpes from this partner, you are contagious at this point whether you have had obvious symptoms or not.

1 out of every 2-3 people you've ever kissed in a lifetime has hsv1 orally. it's incredibly common. have you ever been tested for it?

grace

[harold_henry]

Thanks for your answer.

Clarification, though: Is my level of contagiousness now different from someone who's asymptomatic any other time? Herpes is always contagious but more so with sores, right? So apart from never kissing anyone ever I just have to stick to asymptomatic periods. So what I want to know is am I taking more of a gamble now compared to any future asymptomatic period?

I've never been tested for it, there's been no reason given my history. But at this point it's presumably wasteful not to wait for any new antibodies to show up if this *is* my first infection.

[gracefromHHP]

a newly acquired infection would be more contagious at this point.

a lack of obvious cold sores does not mean a lack of infection.

grace