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HSV-2 Diagnosis and long term latency period

I am a 47 yr old male who has been in a sexually monogamous marriage with my wife for 25 years. She is 45 yrs old and going through the hormonal swings of menapause. She recently had a sore that highly concerned her around her genitals and anus, so she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with HSV-2 which was confirmed via lab results. I went and had a full panel STD screen performed, and I tested positive for HSV-1.Is it possible or likely for her to have had this all along without a major outbreak before now?  I know that HSV-2 may show no noticeable or very mildI symptoms.Is it plausible that she would not have transmitted the HSV-2 on to me after 25 years of unprotected sex? In know that the HSV-1 antibodies help against infection by HSV-2, but I would that that at some point and time that transmission from her to me would have occured.

Any feedback or opinion would be greatly appreciated
3 Responses
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101028 tn?1419603004
I can best help her if you can get her actual test results to post here - e.g. hsv1 igg 5.0 and hsv2 igg 4.3 or whatever they are. that way we can be sure she had the proper testing as well as see if she needs additional confirmatory testing done too.

if you've been together this long and didn't contract it, you already know that the overall risk is as low as we say it is here :)
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Avatar universal
Grace,

Thank you for the response. I had no doubts about the fact that she may have been symptom free, as she has had many complaintains with vaginal discomfort, pain, and urinary tract infections over the past several years. The HSV-2 diagnosis was made by bloodwork. She made self diagnosis and self refered for testing to a lab. She had not seen her gynococlogist but has an scheduled appointment in a couple of weeks.This gives an explaination for her symptoms that were caused by he HSV-2 that she may have misinterperated.

We automatically assumed that I would have been the carrier when she got the positive test results back. It was a bit startling that it was the other way around. It is also comforting to know that it is feasible that I haven't contracted the virus at some point over all of these years.

This brings up the next question - how does this affectour sexlives from this point forward, knowing her positive and my negative test results. Do we need to do anything differently now that we are awre of this situation, or since I haven't manage to become infected in 25 yrs, don't worry about it? I know that we will be aware of breakouts and avoid sexual contact during that time, but should I become infected at some point in the future, does that really matter if we are the only ones having sex with each other and not spreading it elsewhere? A little input on this would be greatly appreciated also.

Thanks again for your input. This forum is a wonderful place for information and answers.

Sincerely,
Billythebat337
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
could she have had hsv2 for 25 years and never knew it? yes she could've. Not unusual for the changes that goes with perimenopause to trigger vaginitis which can cause more recurrences of hsv2 as well as the changes in the genital skin can cause more recurrences of hsv2 too. is it worth asking her if she's cheated?  never a bad idea but if she says no, no real reason not to believe her.

overall the risk of transmission of hsv2 to males is low. not too surprising that you are negative.

do you know did she have a lesion culture of symptoms that came back as hsv2+ or blood testing?

grace
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