Herpes from Oral Sex and Cold Sores

I recieved an episode of unprotected oral sex from this girl i was seeing. The event occured 9 days ago and i know that cold sores can be transmitted to the genitals through oral sex. The girl did not have a cold sore at the time, but developed one about a week after giving me oral sex. Is this a high risk event where I could have gotten HSV1. I dont remember if i have ever had a cold sore, if so it would have had to have been a long time ago. There are currently no symptoms of herpes on my genitals or any cold sores showing up on my mouth. Thanks...

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

The odds are low you were exposed to your partner's HSV-1.  Viral shedding usually begins no more than 3 days before a lesion appears.  So the likelihood is low that your partner was shedding HSV-1 a full week before her outbreak started.  If you remain without symptoms for another few days, you can be pretty certain you weren't infected.  If you want to know whether or not you are susceptible, you could as a health care provider to test you for HSV-1 antibody.  If negative, you are susceptible; if positive, you are not.  (Absence of a history of cold sores doesn't help much.  Almost half the population has HSV-1 and most are unaware of past cold sores.)

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[moet]

To take it one step further...if you get a HerpeSelect IgG blood test asap and test negative (which you most likely would be if exposed less than 6 weeks) then get another blood test at 6/12 weeks and if positive, you can be certain that was the incident (unless there are others). I think it is worth it but others may not ;)