hsv1 doesn't provide any significant protection against contracting hsv2 later on. It helps make it less likely you'd have a rip roaring initial infection but it doesn't really reduce the odds of contracting hsv2 at all.
it's always more likely a partner won't contract your genital herpes than likely that they would.
Hi Grace,
Sorry about the new post, I didn't know how to find the old one but figured it out.
I have another question I was hoping you could help with. Myself and my boyfriend are currently awaiting results of our blood tests- I am getting typed for my GHV that I contracted 8 years ago and he is going to find out his status. I am hoping for type 1 as he gets cold sores so we already know he will be type 1 positive and the chance of him catching down there will be slim. I havn't had another o.b since the primary 8 years ago so I am hoping this is a good sign of it being type 1. He has never had any genital symptoms and the flu symptoms turned out to just be flu.
My question is I have read that even if my results come back HSV2 positive that he still has a 40% less chance of catching it due to his HSV1. Is this true? Factoring this into account, plus the absent o.bs, and suppressive therapy and consistant condom use to prevent transmission during shedding, in your medical opinion, is there a good chance he will not catch HSV2 from me if I have it? Or do you think it's ultimately inevitable?
Thanks in advance Grace,
Zara
actually if this is hsv2, you are shedding the virus on average about the same whether you have 0 ob's a year or 10 ob's a year. not saying that to scare you, just pointing out that the number of recurrences is meaningless. if you have hsv1 genitally, it typically doesn't shed much at all regardless if you are having ob's or not unless you are one of the small percent who get recurrences frequently.
once you know who has what in your current relationship, it will be easier to decide together what precautions to take.
As grace pointed out, you and your partner should get tested to see who has what. I'm not totally convinced that you have herpes due to you not having an outbreak for 8 years, and this could be something completely unrelated. Doctors misdiagnose herpes about a third of the time, so this could be a misdiagnosis here. You could have HSV-1 genitally, which doesn't recur often, and in some people it never comes back again. Blood tests are going to be the main way to find out which type you have. Since HSV-1 is so prominent throughout the nation, I suggest that the next bump you get, you get it cultured or get a PCR, which will tell you the location of HSV. If you actually have HSV, your body is doing an amazing job at supressing it and you'd be likely to not see another outbreak for 10+ years given your prior history.
Thank you grace :) I know, I am going to get typed and re-tested now. At the time, my doc told me just to come back if I had any symptoms and I never did so I kind of stuck my head in the sand (I was only young) and didn't research it myself. He also told me condoms would provide full protection and never told me about asymptomatic shedding. I now know all these things after researching so will be pushing for meds when I get tested to lower the risk. I am going to ask him to get tested also with me.
So this cough he has is not related to the H? I know asymptomatic shedding happens on average about 10% of the time, but would that figure be even less if you don't have the average number of breakout per year?
Thanks again :)
at this point since you were only visually diagnosed with genital herpes, you and your partner both should seek out type specific herpes igg blood testing to see who has what. it's a darn shame that the ball was dropped on you all those years ago and no one ever followed up to confirm infection and type :(
it is cold and flu season. your bf would've had obvious lesions by now if this was due to herpes.
grace