What are my risks of getting herpes from a partner with a weak positive HSV1?

[John629]

Hello!  Just want to ask a question of how likely it is for me to get herpes from someone who has HSV1 but whose ID specialist has classified it as either negative or a weak positive.  A little background:

I'm a 34 year old male, healthy, negative on all STD's... pretty much "squeaky clean"!  I recently started dating a girl about 2 months ago, who's also very healthy and clean except that about a year ago she was diagnosed with HSV1.  She told me this before we started officially dating.  We've had protected sex and kissed, no oral sex yet (I had another test done a few weeks ago... all negative).

About a year ago, she noticed a bump in what she described as the "upper left quadrant of the vulva to the left of the clitoris".  She had a blood test done and came back positive for HSV1, negative for HSV2.  However, her former boyfriend (upon hearing the news) had a test done when he found out and he came back negative for both (They always had protected sex).

Right before we started dating she had another test done and it showed up as positive still but the specialist said the results were so low as to be considered negative or just a weak positive.

She's never noticed any types of breakouts except the occasional acne breakout right before her period, or any other herpes-like symptoms in the groin area, mouth, or other places that she can remember (she thinks that bump was just a zit or something like that).  Lastly, she doesn't know when she got it, how she got it, how long she's had it, etc.

Since this relationship is getting serious we're planning on getting more intimate with each other as she starts going on the pill and move to unprotected sex.

So here are my questions:
1.  How likely is it for me to catch HSV when we do move to unprotected sex?
2.  Will we need to do some kind of a "checklist" before and after "the act" (e.g. check for any open sores, breakouts, any tell-tale signs I should look for, etc.)?
3.  Can hsv be aquired through vaginal fluids (even though there aren't an open sores/cuts)?
4.  If we do decide to have kids, can they contract hsv in any way while still inside the womb?
5.  And what's the likelihood of someone who is HSV1 "weak positive" to eventually have it pretty bad or turn into HSV2 or just get worse?

Thanks for your help!

[John629]

BTW, just wanted to give a quick thanks for all your advice!  :-)

[John629]

Just got back to me... No other testing done on both tests (She wasn;'t complaining of any other symptoms in the vaginal area at that time apart from that bump.).  By the time she went to the doctor the first time, that bump had gone down and doc told her it seemed like an ingrown hair.

[gracefromHHP]

ask your gf if she also had testing for yeast and bacterial infections vaginally when she was diagnosed originally or any other testing done at that time.  pretty much unless she gets a return of genital symptoms to be seen and cultured and typed, no way to know if that really was hsv1 genitally or not for her.

[John629]

Yes, I was tested a few weeks ago and everything was negative.  Same results when I was first tested 2 1/2 months ago (Also did a full comprehensive STD test back then, everything was negative).

[gracefromHHP]

no way for her to know if her hsv1 is oral or genital if all she had done was a blood test and not also a lesion culture of her symptoms.  she only had blood testing done right?

have you been tested to know your own herpes status?

even the best blood tests still miss 1 out of every 10 hsv1 infections.  hard to tell if she's really negative or not.  if you are infected , makes no difference if your hsv1 igg is on the low side or not - the virus is just as active regardless.

grace