I work in china in a stressful job, which I just started. About two months ago I had a red rash on the end of my penis. It wasn't painful, didn't itch, and had no other symptoms...no sensations or tingling or anything. The dr thought it could be herpes and did a blood test. The test came back with low levels of hsv1 ( below the level to be called positive) he said This was indicative of a past infection, as was the fact that I was displaying mild symptoms now. The confusing part is that to my knowledge I never had herpes before, at least no noticeable outbreaks. I should point out that I haven't had any risky exposures recently....the dr said that basically stress and fatigue and being run down, could have caused an outbreak. He said there was no way of determining how long I have had it for. There were big language issues here, so I have been left feeling very confused....any thoughts would be extremely well received!
What I want to know is this....is it possible to have herpes without knowing about it for so long? Can stress really cause outbreaks? Does having a painless red rash even sound like herpes? Is a visual diagnosis enough?