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Is it herpes and how contagious?

Around 7 years ago, I had a very severe infection in the vaginal area.  It was first visually diagnosed as a yeast infection.  It persisted and got worse and the nurse did a culture and said it was HSV - Type 1.  I never had any bloodwork done.  And nothing else really came up until about a year ago - I started having what looked like heat rash in the crease of my butt - not near the anus.  It is usually a little painful and clears up on its own within 5 days.  Is that a herpes outbreak?  

I recently got tested and asked for an 'across the board' test, b/c I am slightly unsure that the original test was accurate.  Is it possible to get a false positive from a culture test?

And if having unprotected oral, vaginal or anal sex - what are the chances of spreading herpes if not during an outbreak?
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101028 tn?1419603004
herpes testing typically is not a part of routine std testing. Your partner will need to see if it was actually included with his testing he's had prior.

You can transmit your hsv1 genital infection to your partner but odds are you won't. it doesn't shed much so usually just avoiding sex anytime you have anything going on genitally is all it takes.  

grace
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Avatar universal
I meant to say he has not been tested since we started our relationship.  He had been tested prior.
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Avatar universal
Prior to our relationship, he said he was negative.  He has not been tested yet and I should get my test results soon.  We've been together for a little over a month and I haven't had any outbreaks during that time.  

How contagious is it if there are no outbreaks?
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101028 tn?1419603004
lesion cultures can be typed wrong but the only way it's wrongly typed as herpes is if there's clerical error which happens but thankfully not often.  You really have no reason to doubt  that you have hsv1 genitally.  Your symptoms originally sounded like herpes plus you had a lesion culture that was +.

Your current symptoms could be herpes but could also be other things.  Best thing to do is to be seen when you have them next.

Hsv1 genitally tends not to reoccur very often.  In 1/2 of folks who have it, they never get another reoccurrence.  Of those who do , the average is 1 additional ob the first year and then 1 ob every other year after that. Only a small percentage of folks get ob's more often than that.

do you know your partner's hsv1 status?
grace
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