Oral herpes - friction or no friction

[johng2o22]

Greetings,

I have been browsing this forum for a while now looking for information on the transmission risk for oral herpes.
There is a discrepancy in the responses on this forum.

What is consistent is avoiding kissing while having cold sores, which is obvious.

However, some expert responses say you can contract oral herpes from something as simple as a quick peck on the lips, even when there are no cold sores visible. This can happen if the transmitting person does not even know they have herpes.

Other responses say that for adults there is friction, heat and moisture needed to massage the virus into the nerve, i.e. like in romantic type (french) kissing.

I'm confused about this. Does anyone have a response to this discrepancy? What is correct/incorrect?

Thanks a million for any feedback provided.

John

[auntiejessi]

Experts on our site said that? Or experts on other sites? If it's on our site, do you have links?

Have you ever tested for hsv1?

A couple of weeks ago, you mentioned that you were going to get some help for your anxiety. Have you looked into that yet?

[johng2o22]

So I've been looking for that specific post. I found it while browsing the herpes community forum through pages and pages, but can´t seem to find it again unfortunately. As there are several hundred thousands of posts and the search functionality is not that good at filtering, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. If I come across it again, I will post it here.

Basically, it was a post with the argument that all herpes needed to transmit was simple skin to skin contact, nothing more. I recall it was a lady(?) with about 800-ish responses on this forum already.  The poster claimed that's usually how kids get herpes from their parents. There is no passionate/friction kissing involved between parent and child, but children do get it that way regardless. Other sites do usually claim similar things, but I'm no expert so I don't know what to believe, hence my question above.

I must admit I did not come across these kinds of posts often on this forum. Most of the responses of experts do claim some friction and moisture is required. I am probably looking for confirmation regarding my own situation and crippling anxiety. ( I will respond to your last question in my original thread.)

I never tested for hsv1, so I don't know if I'm a carrier. Isn't oral sex a huge risk if you are an asymptomatic carrier? You could pass it along this way, without ever knowing it...

[auntiejessi]

With children, there is no passion, but there are many people who don't know that cold sores are herpes, and/or that they are contagious.

More people are aware now, but that hasn't always been the case. You may have even gotten it from someone you've kissed passionately along the way.

Yes, oral sex is a risk with hsv1, if your partner doesn't already have hsv1. People with herpes - any strain, any location, aren't infectious all day every day, though. People with oral hsv1 shed, on average, 25% of days a year.

Did you even kiss the person who gave you the massage? If you didn't, this is all anxiety.

(Let's keep your responses to your other thread.)