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Anxious about recent infection
Recently my g.f. of 7 mos had a very severe and painful outbreak of what was thought to be herpes. Her swab ended up showing HSV1, her blood, nothing. Her doc said that it was a sign that it was a recent infection, since it wasn't in her blood yet, and because it was a severe outbreak.
I've never had a cold sore in my life. Appx 6 yrs ago I did have irritation and lesions on my genitals after upping dosage of accutane. at first i thought it was one of many side effects of drug, but then i had a slight burning sensation upon urination and swollen inguanal lymph nodes. my derm was unsure, and he had a urologist look at it, who thought it was definitely herpes. lesions had basically healed by then swabs unhelpful, but blood drawn and apparently showed nothing. (unsure which tests i received). since i had quit the accutane immediately, and never really took the viral meds i was given more than the initial week, and because I never had a recurrance again, my derm ended up thinking it may have been accutane related. but to be honest we both were focused on the derm issues.
i recently tested positive (via blood) for exposure to HSV1.
first, based on what you have heard, how likely is it that i had this exposure before our relationship, and that i transmitted hsv1 to my girlfriend, and this is her initial outbreak? i would feel awful if that was the case and have been struggling with this thought and it is tearing me up.
second, assuming we both have genital HSV1 (i know she does but assuming that that 'outbreak' 6 years ago was indeed herpes), going forward, can we cause outbreaks in one another by having sex during asymptomatic shedding periods? what about if we perform oral sex on each other? if neither of us have had a cold sore before, will that put us at risk of a new infection of the HSV1 in the mouth area?
lastly, will this put our future children (if we get that far) at risk? and if so, how do we mitigate the risk? thank you
I've never had a cold sore in my life. Appx 6 yrs ago I did have irritation and lesions on my genitals after upping dosage of accutane. at first i thought it was one of many side effects of drug, but then i had a slight burning sensation upon urination and swollen inguanal lymph nodes. my derm was unsure, and he had a urologist look at it, who thought it was definitely herpes. lesions had basically healed by then swabs unhelpful, but blood drawn and apparently showed nothing. (unsure which tests i received). since i had quit the accutane immediately, and never really took the viral meds i was given more than the initial week, and because I never had a recurrance again, my derm ended up thinking it may have been accutane related. but to be honest we both were focused on the derm issues.
i recently tested positive (via blood) for exposure to HSV1.
first, based on what you have heard, how likely is it that i had this exposure before our relationship, and that i transmitted hsv1 to my girlfriend, and this is her initial outbreak? i would feel awful if that was the case and have been struggling with this thought and it is tearing me up.
second, assuming we both have genital HSV1 (i know she does but assuming that that 'outbreak' 6 years ago was indeed herpes), going forward, can we cause outbreaks in one another by having sex during asymptomatic shedding periods? what about if we perform oral sex on each other? if neither of us have had a cold sore before, will that put us at risk of a new infection of the HSV1 in the mouth area?
lastly, will this put our future children (if we get that far) at risk? and if so, how do we mitigate the risk? thank you
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Red blood cells in the urine are non-specfic and are not suggestive of genital herpes. Neither does your prior diagnosis of lichen planus.
EWH
EWH
doctor, i should also note that about 7 or 8 years ago i was dx'd with lichen planus of penus and scrotum via biopsy. it is not too noticeable and doesn't bother me too much, so i don't really do anything to treat it. unsure if that has anything to do with anything, but figured you may want to know in preparing your response
thank you so much doctor. i was away from the computer a couple days. one last potentially related question. during the period that my g.f. was experiencing her outbreak and i had gone to get my tests, i gave urine. i had trace amounts of blood in the urine. upon rechecking 5 days later, i still had them. urologist did not order imaging b/c he said it was very little and he couldn't even see cells in the urine. could this be related to hsv1? i don't have any sores or ulcers, and it doesn't burn when i urinate or anything, but sometimes i feel may urethra is a bit 'sore', and i feel like after urinating or ejaculating there's 'a little more' that needs to come out and will dribble out. am i just being paranoid?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
About 60% of adult Americans have HSV-1. HSV-1 is causing an increasing proportion of genital herpes. Most experts agree that at least 25% of new genital herpes infections are caused by HSV-1.
HSV-1 is spread by direct contact, not by sharing glasses, toothbrushes or silverware,
Oral HSV will not "travel" downward to casue genital infection.
All of htese questions are anwered on the web site I mentioned. EWH
HSV-1 is spread by direct contact, not by sharing glasses, toothbrushes or silverware,
Oral HSV will not "travel" downward to casue genital infection.
All of htese questions are anwered on the web site I mentioned. EWH
thank you doctor, your answers certainly focused some of my anxieties and answered some of my lingering questions.
just some quick follow-up questions:
how common is HSV1 generally, and HSV1 that causes genital herpes?
can gential HSV1 be caused by a 'non sexual' encounter? shared drinks, toothbrush, towel, etc., and then 'travel down' from the presumed oral sight of infection to the gentials for an outbreak? leaving the mouth never to have an outbreak?
thanks again
just some quick follow-up questions:
how common is HSV1 generally, and HSV1 that causes genital herpes?
can gential HSV1 be caused by a 'non sexual' encounter? shared drinks, toothbrush, towel, etc., and then 'travel down' from the presumed oral sight of infection to the gentials for an outbreak? leaving the mouth never to have an outbreak?
thanks again
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to our Forum. I will try to help. I am sorry to hear of your GF's difficulties. Based on her positive culture and negative antibody test, it certainly sounds as though what she has experienced was an initial episode of genital herpes due to HSV-1. Initial episodes tend to be more severe and last longer than recurrences.
Asking how she got her infection and from what sort of exposure is a bit more difficult to answer. If you have HSV-1 antibodies, you have HSV-1 but it is difficult to know what sort of exposure lead to her infection. Your genital irritation 6 years ago may have been an outbreak of GH due to HSV-1 or it could have been a reaction to acutane. They can resemble one another and the clinical diagnosis of GH when unconfirmed by swab tests is wrong about 25% of the time. Of adults with HSV-1 diagnosed by antibody tests, about 90% are unaware of their infection and most are thought to have oral, not genital infections as their site of infection. Either way, it is likely your GF got the infection from you while you were experiencing what is called "asymptomatic shedding" of the virus (i.e. the virus was present without lesions on normal appearing skin). She could have been infected in this way through either oral or genital sexual contact.
GH due to HSV-1, on average, follows a milder course than GH due to HSV-2, tending to have fewer recurrences on average which are less severe (again, on average) when compared to those caused by HSV-2.
As for your specific questions:
1. See above. Initial episodes of GH typically occur 4-10 days following contact. Presuming your relationship is mutually monogamous, you are likely to have been the source.
2. You both now have HSV-1 infections. It would be almost unheard of to have the infection spread to other locations through sexual activity now that the infections are established. There really is no risk of further infection an no need to be concerned that you might re-infect one another.
3. The risk of infecting children at the time of childbirth is very, very low. The only thing that needs to be done is for your GF to let her OB know that she has genital HSV-1 at the time she becomes pregnant. If precautions are needed they can then be taken but, in all likelihood, there will be no reason for concern and minimal risk. The risk of congenital infection n persons who have gotten infected during pregnancy or who do not know that they are infected.
I hope these comments are helpful to your both. Another excellent source of information about GH is the American social Health Association web site (disclosure, Dr. Handsfield and I are both on the ASHA Board ) EWH
Asking how she got her infection and from what sort of exposure is a bit more difficult to answer. If you have HSV-1 antibodies, you have HSV-1 but it is difficult to know what sort of exposure lead to her infection. Your genital irritation 6 years ago may have been an outbreak of GH due to HSV-1 or it could have been a reaction to acutane. They can resemble one another and the clinical diagnosis of GH when unconfirmed by swab tests is wrong about 25% of the time. Of adults with HSV-1 diagnosed by antibody tests, about 90% are unaware of their infection and most are thought to have oral, not genital infections as their site of infection. Either way, it is likely your GF got the infection from you while you were experiencing what is called "asymptomatic shedding" of the virus (i.e. the virus was present without lesions on normal appearing skin). She could have been infected in this way through either oral or genital sexual contact.
GH due to HSV-1, on average, follows a milder course than GH due to HSV-2, tending to have fewer recurrences on average which are less severe (again, on average) when compared to those caused by HSV-2.
As for your specific questions:
1. See above. Initial episodes of GH typically occur 4-10 days following contact. Presuming your relationship is mutually monogamous, you are likely to have been the source.
2. You both now have HSV-1 infections. It would be almost unheard of to have the infection spread to other locations through sexual activity now that the infections are established. There really is no risk of further infection an no need to be concerned that you might re-infect one another.
3. The risk of infecting children at the time of childbirth is very, very low. The only thing that needs to be done is for your GF to let her OB know that she has genital HSV-1 at the time she becomes pregnant. If precautions are needed they can then be taken but, in all likelihood, there will be no reason for concern and minimal risk. The risk of congenital infection n persons who have gotten infected during pregnancy or who do not know that they are infected.
I hope these comments are helpful to your both. Another excellent source of information about GH is the American social Health Association web site (disclosure, Dr. Handsfield and I are both on the ASHA Board ) EWH
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
