What sexual activities can I do without spreading genital HSV-1 to a partner

I was recently diagnosed with genital HSV-1 and I have only had the initial outbreak.  I do not want to give this to anyone so I would like to know what sexual activities I can and cannot do in order to keep this virus to myself rather than spreading it to anyone else.

1. Will I ever be able to have unprotected sex (with my husband)?  If not, how am I going to have children?
2. Is is safe for me to receive oral sex?
3. If I have sex and my partner then wants me to perform oral sex on him, will I infect myself with oral HSV-1?
4. What are the chances of a partner getting genital HSV-1 from genital to genital contact?
5.  If my partner fingers me and then licks his fingers, while he be infected with oral HSV-1?
6. What is the probability that I would pass the virus through any of these activities when there are no signs of an outbreak?

I would never dream of doing any of this during an outbreak, so please assume that all sexual activities would be done when there are no signs of an outbreak.  Thank you for explaining more about this.

[utah67]

I am glad that you asked these questions...although i cannot answer them, I have wondered the same.

[gracefromHHP]

do you have a regular partner now? if so., have they been tested?

hsv1 genitally tends not to reoccur very often. about 1/2 of folks who have it, never get another recurrence. 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 recurrences more often. it also doesn't shed very often so the odds of transmitting it to a partner overall are very low. if your partner has hsv1 orally, the odds of transmitting it to them genitally are incredibly low and not likely to occur. always avoid sex during obvious symptoms of course. it's totally up to you and  your partners if you want to have protected sex or not. it's not something you have to do for a lifetime just because you have genital herpes.

No easy way to know if you also contracted hsv1 orally or not unless you get an obvious cold sore. What few studies we do have show that anywhere from 1/4 to 2/3's of folks who contract hsv1 genitally, also contract it orally. When talking about all of this with a potential new partner, discuss together if you only performing protected oral sex is worthwhile or not if they are hsv1 -.    if you don't already have hsv1 orally, you now have significant protection against contracting it there.

Be sure to ask future partners to get tested to know their own status. You can't make educated decisions about what precautions to take until you know who has what. If a partner has hsv2, you can contract that from them so don't just assume that if someone tells you they get cold sores that they have hsv1 and everything is A ok because they could have hsv2 and not know it.

grace