very scared

[scared860]

i am a 40 yrd old man living in america. i kissed a girl yesterday. she has a mouth sore. when i asked her she is saying it is due to an injury as one of her kids threw a foot ball on her when she was baby sitting. do u think i could get some stds due to this kissing. i kissed her last week and she had some small sores on the side of the lips. i am very worried and i dont know if these sores are due to herpes or any other stds.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Most exposures do not lead to infection with HSV, even if you contacted the lesion.  Typically, if you have gotten HSV, you would develop lesions within 2 weeks (14 days) of exposure. EWH

[scared860]

sorry i wanted to add this in the last mail but i forgot. i kissed her about a week or 10 days. do u think i would have got symptoms by now if i got herpes.

can i go and tested now. will it show up or do i need to wait longer.

thanks a lot

[scared860]

thanks so much for ur prompt reply. i dont get cold sores. i tested for herpes a few months back and it came back negative.

even she had hsv-1 do u think that my chances of getting oral herpes is low. i dont have any cuts or i maintain very good oral hygiene.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum. It sounds like there may have been several possible exposures (i.e. kissing/oral contact) with a partner who has sores on her mouth/lips.  While her recent sore may be related to being hit by a child’s toy, the sores you saw the previous week suggest that she may have HSV-1 (cold sores).   The only STD which would be likely to cause mouth/lip sores is oral herpes, nearly always due to HSV-1, the virus that causes cold sores.  If you already get cold sores, you are not at risk since once a person has cold sores (HSV-1 infection), they cannot get it again from another person.  Even if you do not get cold sores, the risk is still low since many people (about half the population)  have HSV-1 infection and do not know it.  

As for other sorts of STDs, there is no reason to worry related to the possible exposures you describe.

Either way, this really is not something to worry about.  EWH