Confused!

[needyourhelp2012]

Dear Terri, I been having some trouble from my exposure on november 16. I went to visit a sexual worker and had protected vaginal sex with her and a little of grinding with a condom on too, well 5 days past the exposure i develop a  rash between the groin and inner thigh where they meet it was in a odd location and it had couple cuts on it too! well 2 days after the rash appear i went to the urgent care becuase my doctor was out of town for the holidays, well when i went to the urgent care the P.A. took care of me and check out the rash she told me not to worry about a std at all, she said the it was a heat rash or friction burn cant remember and told me to get some healing powder or a cream and send me home, i went to the store and got Gold Bond intensive healing cream and put it on and the next day i went to check the area and it look fine it was already heal it was like nothing happen. and let me tell u a little about myself i never had unprotected sex in my life always been protected and i tested on early september for all stds and the only one it came back positive was hsv 1 i had cold sores since a child so my question are:

how often a heat rash or friction burn is confused with a herpes outbreak?

could that rash been a herpes 2 outbreak but it was so mild because i have hsv 1 oral?

if this was herpes would that cream would it help heal the outbreak that fast?

how rare is getting hsv 2 by protected sex?

thanks terri.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

Herpes doesn't often show up in that are ALONE.  There could be symptoms there but most often in conjunction with lesions on the penis itself.  

Are you going to be antibody tested for herpes?

Terri

[needyourhelp2012]

Thank you Terri, so you said herpes doesn't show up on that area often correct? Do you recommend any testing for me or I should just trust my pa advice and move on with my life? Thanks

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

I'm honestly not sure of the exact risk.  The data we have about transmission is people who have longer term relationships, so it is very hard to apply that information to a situation like yours.  So I"m not going to give you an exact number.

While it is true that fungal infections can be confused with herpes, herpes usually doesn't present in this area. Friction burns are often confused with herpes, but they don't show up in the groin as you describe.

On act of intercourse is statistically  low risk because of only one exposure, and condoms reduce that number by 30-50%.

I'm sorry, but that's the best information I can give you.

Terri

[needyourhelp2012]

i forgot to add when the sex is protected is chances are ten times lower for one in 10000?

[needyourhelp2012]

thanks for your response Terri, that helps me a lot, i was just confused because i hear the heat rash or friction burn it can be confused with herpes, and this rash happen 5 days past the exposure don't you think its a little obvious or just coincidence? so basically my exposure is virtualy zero correct because condom protected sex risk is very low, if the sex was unprotected the averege transmission for a single exposure is between one in a 1000 right? and because the location is wrong is very unlikely that was herpes? does that make sense? if i were your patien dear terri would you recommend testing?

thanks terri, your an ANGEL!!!!

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

If the treatment that the health care provider recommended worked that quickly, I doubt that it was herpes.  Condoms reduce the risk of herpes transmission by 30-50%, so they definitely help.  Also, the risk of getting HSV at a one time protected intercourse is very low.  Also, the main location for HSV  outbreaks are the shaft of the penis.  Rashes between the scrotum and leg are very often fungal infections, nothing related to herpes.  This sounds very low risk to me.

Terri