GF has nostril coldsore: Oral sex?

[skidMark]

Hello,
I'm a 21 year old male and I've been together with my girlfriend for about 5 months. I never knew she had Herpes type 1 until the other night, AFTER a lot of kissing and AFTER she'd given me oral sex. She has a coldsore in her nostril (that's the only one I'm aware of), and I'm mortified that she might have passed this onto my penis. She got it from her mother as an infant, and I've never had a coldsore before, so I believe I'm susceptible.

1) How likely is it that I'll eventually experience the virus on my genitals, and how likely is it that I'll experience it somewhere on my face?

2) What would be the lifelong implications of either of these?

3) I assume I'll eventually catch it off of her regardless of how careful we are?

4) What can I do in the meantime, while I wait for something to happen?


Thanks very much for your time, it's hard to find this sort of information on the Internet - they're all trying to sell a product and equate Herpes to some sort of death sentence!

Cheers,
SkidMark

[gracefromHHP]

Statistically - 1 out of every 2-3 folks you've ever kissed/received oral sex from in a lifetime has had hsv1 orally. It's THAT common.  Also the vast majority of folks who have it, can't recall ever getting obvious cold sores to know it.  By the time we hit the old age home about 80% of us have hsv1 orally. Not many of us make it thru life without it.

So what do you do now? Well I certainly should hope that you aren't considering ending a relationship over a cold sore!!!  Should you notice any obvious symptoms in your genital area within the next 2 weeks - go see your provider.  Make sure you get them cultured and typed.  You can consider getting yourself a type specific herpes igg blood test for hsv1 and hsv2 to see what your status is. If you already have hsv1 - then it's not an issue for you.  If you test + for hsv2 - well then that's a whole other ballgame for you two to deal with.

Let's assume you test hsv1 negative on your test.  Just avoiding kissing and receiving oral sex from your gf when she has obvious cold sores goes a heck of a long way.  You can contract hsv1 in between obvious cold sores but it's lower risk.  Also talk to your gf.  Ask her how often she tends to get recurrences.  Ask her if she treats them at all. Discuss this together.  

grace

[skidMark]

Hey,
Thanks a LOT Grace. That pretty much covered everything I needed to know - and there's no way I'd leave my girlfriend over something like this!

Also,

What is the likelihood that I do get it, but that it wont show any symptoms?

and

If I do get genital herpes type 1, what will that mean for my relations with my girlfriend/future partners?


Thanks a BUNCH!
SkidMark

[gracefromHHP]

Well the likelihood that you'd get it and not show any symptoms varies. There are probably some genetic things involved in it as well as just plain ole bad luck.  Be perfectly healthy and contract it and you may or may not get an obvious cold sore to know it ( or you might have a sore throat or something similar ).  Your body busy fighting off another cold/flu/puke, poop virus at the same time ( whether you are aware of it or not ) and you might end up with symptoms when infected.  Whether or not you get a lot of obvious recurrences probably is where the genetics plays a part.  Can't remember anyone in your immediate family getting cold sores frequently - you probably carry a trait that allows your body to keep that from happening a lot.  Even if you are unlucky enough to end up getting cold sores frequently - you can control them with the herpes antivirals.  So the take home message is - don't obsess over thinking every little thing in your body means you've contracted hsv1 from your gf - just know that should you notice obvious symptoms of a cold sore - it's not the end of the world and there are treatments.

Should you contract hsv1 genitally? Well it sheds much less than hsv1 orally does ( 18% for hsv1 orally, 3% for hsv1 genitally ) and is much less likely to be transmitted to a partner.  It also doesn't reoccur very often for most folks so it shouldn't be too much of a bother in general.  If you would happen to contract it orally and genitally - the oral herpes would be more of an issue than the genital herpes would be.

Hope that helps!

grace