Possible Genital Herpes

Hi Terri.  Last Saturday (August 25, 2012) at approximately 3 am and then again at 7 am, I had unprotected vaginal intercourse with a girl I had just met that night.  The day before, on Firday morning August 24 for the first time in about a year, I shaved my genital region, especially scortum, with a razor blade that I keep in the shower and normally use to shave my chest.

When I woke up on Sunday around 8 am (approxmately 29 hours after the first encounter) I noticed red bumps, spread out and not clustered, on both sides of my scrotum, but nothing anywhere on the penis.  None were painful.  I didn't worry about it as I assumed it was from shaving with a straight razor.  All of the red marks went away within 1-2 days except, for one, the largest one.  It is still here about 9 days later and turned into an open sore on my scrotum that hasn't healed yet.  It's not painful.

Starting yesterday, about 8 days after the encounter, I got sever flu-like symptoms (high fever that doesn't seem to go down with advil or tylenol), night sweats, a very sore throat, swollen lymph nodes on the right side on my neck (but none in the groin area) and muscle aches.  I still have these symptoms as I write you.  But still, there is nothing on the penis itself, only the scortum despite fully unprotected sex.

I have a few questions.  First, does this sound like genital herpes to you based on what I've described?  Would the sore(s)/red bumps appear that soon after initial contact (29 hours or less)?  Would I get the sore/red bumps a full week before the constitutional symptoms (fever, swollen lymph nodes in neck, muscle aches, sore throat) began?  I would think it would be the other way around, constitutional symptoms first, but I'm not an expert.  Finally, can swollen lymph nodes on the side of the neck be a sign of genital herpes, or would genital herpes only cause swollen lymph nodes locally (i.e. groin region)?  

Thanks in advance for your thoughts Terri.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

No, this doesn't sound like genital herpes.  the most common location for herpes outbreaks is the shaft of the penis.  

Swollen lymph nodes in the neck would be very unlikely to be related to herpes.  The lymph nodes that would come up most often in herpes are the groin nodes.  People with oral herpes will have neck nodes respond, certainly.  

It sounds like maybe you have a folliculitis from shaving?  
Having said all that, I'm wondering if you can go in to see a health care provider and have them look at the remaining sore on the scrotum?
Also, have you spoken to the woman involved? I might suggest that you give her a call and ask about any history of herpes with her.
Were you the giver of oral sex to her?  Anything orally?

Terri