Oral herpes transmission

[kirk123]

What are the odds of catching oral herpes from a one time encounter from making out with a woman who has no visible symptoms, on no surpressive therapy? I'm a male and I'm a little confused about shedding risks. Does shedding always cause a person to catch the virus whether it is hsv1 or 2? I've been tested by igg and I am negative for both.

[Fleetwood20]

Remember that 95% of the time, a sore throat is just a sore throat.

The bumps in your mouth always come and go, you've just not had cause to be concerned about them before.

[kirk123]

Cheek*

[kirk123]

Hi, thank you for all your advice. I did say that was the end of my questions, but yesterday I noticed 2 reddish bumps inside my mouth on the wall of my check near the opening. They don't look like blisters from pics I saw online, nor do they hurt in any way. Should this be of any concern? Also, I still do have a sore throat and a temperature of 99 degrees. The sore throat is not painful, just minor discomfort when I swallow mucous from nasal drip..looking forward to your reply. Thanks!

[kirk123]

On another note, it's been 3 days since my encounter. I currently have a sore throat, but I do attribute that to me not taking my allergy medicine this week and my dust allergies have been acting up--so I think it's safe to rule that out since I don't have any blisters or other serious symptoms.

[Fleetwood20]

Yes 2-10 days you'd expect an outbreak to occur with a primary infection. I think you're more than right, if you're body is OK then there is no need for testing, just move on with your life.

Remember that over 50% of women you come across will have oral HSV1, I'd suggest it isn't worth avoiding a kiss from any of them!

[kirk123]

Thank you. I feel a lot more reassured at this point. I have one final question. If one were to contract oral herpes through kissing, what is the time frame where an adult would begin to see noticeable symptoms such as blisters? I've read that it is between 2 to 12 days-- is this accurate for a large majority of people? I don't consider myself high risk to have to go get tested, but I'd like to pay attention to my body going forward and just rely on that. Thank you for your time.

[Fleetwood20]

One of the key words I mentioned was 'as an adult' and being oral to oral. Most HSV1 infections are to children where of course at least the child does not know to avoid lesions. Hence I'd suggest that a very large portion of oral transmissions still involve outbreaks, although greater education is leading to reduced transmission and more asymptomatic infections.

Much of what you read regarding asymptomatic infection probably relates to transmission during sexual activity.

[kirk123]

Thank you! I appreciate such a truthful answer. I read so many conflicting things on this topic all over the web that seems over-exaggerated and meant to scare people.. I was only paranoid because I intimately kissed a 22 year old Caucasian female on vacation this past weekend.. She had no visible sores and I'm not even sure if she even has it since she was a stranger!  I'm not quite sure how much race plays into the factor in terms of risk either (I'm 23 with south asian ancestry).

Question: On various sites, I read that most people contract the virus thru asymptomatic shedding; would you say this finding is not entirely true if the risks are so astronomically low as you stated?

[Fleetwood20]

The risk with no cold sores present would be once every few thousand contacts as an adult.

Eve if shedding is present, it seems to burst and dissipate quite quickly. Even if shedding is present the chances of infection are still one in a few hundred. Shedding does not equal transmission.