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Does HSV Always Achieve Latency?

I was referred to an infectious disease specialist by my primary care physician because I had several questions about my HSV-1 diagnosis by blood test. I have not had any additional outbreaks besides my first one, and the doctor (who has studied HSV at length) told me that the virus does not always achieve latency after a primary outbreak for those exposed to the virus. It would not be possible, however, to tell if this was the case or if the virus was simply lying dormant. I was wondering if any doctors were familiar with this notion - that initial HSV outbreaks might not lead to HSV achieving permanent latency - as most of the documentation on the Internet seems to indicate that a primary outbreak is always indicative of a permanent infection and contagiousness.
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Avatar universal
I'm sorry but it is not false.

There is nothing inconsistent in those articles and what I'm saying. The virus is a simple organism that has no on or off switch. It just is and it replicates all the time but is in balance mostly with our immune system. When the balance is upset, we can experience shedding and outbreaks.

Some people confuse no outbreaks with inactivity. This is not true. Latest research indicates more on what he virus is up to continuously. Have a look at articles by Wald.
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Avatar universal
"There is not really any such thing as latency. The virus is alive all the time in our nerve cells, it knows only one state."

Pretty sure this is completely false, as almost everything I've ever read about the virus describes its active and inactive phases. Without even having to try very hard, I found this article (http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbherpes.htm) and this quote:

"After invading the skin or mucous membranes, the virus that causes genital herpes travels to the sensory nerves at the end of the spinal cord. Even after the skin lesions have disappeared, the virus remains inside the nerve cells in a latent state. In most people, the virus reactivates from time to time."
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101028 tn?1419603004
herpes simplex virus is never permanently latent.  You will always have the virus activating periodically whether with obvious lesions or not.

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Avatar universal
I'm not sure what you are asking. There is not really any such thing as latency. The virus is alive all the time in our nerve cells, it knows only one state. Depending on the immune system throughout our body, blood borne antibodies, dermal cells etc. will result in a frequency of shedding and outbreaks that is different for everybody.

Once infected, a person is infected for life, no question.

Extremely few people achieve complete non shedding, that is, the virus never reaching the skin's surface. The virus still replicates inside their nerve ganglion. Most people experience shedding and the occasional outbreak. As such, most are infectious.
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