Can I pass it on????

[Scared in FL]

I was just diagnosed with HSV-1 (on my genitals).  If I perform Oral on someone (I have never had sores on or in my mouth) can I give them this?  Also, if they already have HSV-1 (which I have been told 60% of the population has it) can I transmit it to their genitals? or will they be immune because they already have it?  Thanks

[gracefromHHP]

If your partner already has hsv1 orally then they are not likely to contract hsv1 genitally later on. still err on the side of caution and when you have genital symptoms - avoid sex until they are gone.  A prior hsv1 infection gives significant protection against contracting it later on other body parts - not 100% but enough that it's not worth worrying about.  

The only easy way to tell if you also have hsv1 orally is if you start getting obvious cold sores.  Not many studies have been done on it but of the 2 I"ve found - one showed that 1/4 of folks who contracted hsv1 genitally also contracted it orally - the other study was higher. Both studies only looked at the appearance of obvious cold sores - neither of them did any oral swabbing to look for hsv1 shedding. Since the majority of folks who contract hsv1 orally don't get obvious cold sores to know it - one can suppose that the number of folks contracting hsv1 both genitally and orally at the same time is probably higher than 1/4.  So should you have a different partner than your current one in the future - let them know that you know you have it genitally but you aren't sure if it's oral too and discuss what precautions to take based on their own hsv1 status and preferences.

grace

[HelpMomof2]

Doesn't this test lead you to believe that many people with HSV2 genitally also have it orally?  
I guess that is not an accurate comparison, because HSV2 oral requires oral sex...where HSV1 requires only kissing.  (Generally speaking of course)

[gracefromHHP]

Actually in studies where they've done oral pcr swabbing they found that the rate of hsv2 oral infections is only around 3% ( the study I'm refering to is actually one where they went back thru lots of studies over several years and took their results to get this figure - I believe it was by anna wald but I"m not sure and I"m too lazy to look it up today ).  To go along with this topic - in folks who are diagnosed with hsv2 orally - almost all of them also have hsv2 genitally - unless the only contact was oral to genital only.  Reading that is actually what got me doing the literature search awhile back on the hsv1 oral and genital infection rate.  Most folks kiss when they have sex - same with a lot of folks use oral sex as foreplay so there is a lot of oral and genital contact both when the infected partner is actively shedding.

grace