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How to know if HSV2 is oral or genital

Have positive IgG test for HSV2.  Have had some nerve pain in groin/leg in past.  Have never had any oral lesions or pain.  I did perform oral sex on the person who gave me HSV2. Is there a chance I could have HSV in both oral and genital locations?  How worried should I be about passing this to my children via kissing (I never kiss them on the mouth only cheek/head). Thanks
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
Do you know what your actual results are - the numerical value to it?

There are a lot of false positives on the test, and the lower the number, the better the chance that it's a false positive.

Oral hsv2 is very rare. If you do actually have hsv2, it's statistically genital. The only way you'd ever give it to your children is if you had inappropriate sexual contact with them.

Oral hsv2 rarely sheds and rarely recurs, so it's even more rarely transmitted. I've seen maybe 1 or 2 people here with oral hsv2, and Terri Warren, one of the world's leading experts in herpes, hasn't seen it once in her years in practice. Herpes easily can go from the mouth to the genitals, resulting in genital hsv1, but rarely goes from the genitals to the mouth.

If you can, get a copy of your test results. I'd love to see the number on it. It should say something like, "HSV2 IgG 1.34" or "HSV2 IgG 9.7".

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Oh I should say that the official guidelines state that anything over a 1.10 is a positive, but experts and the CDC feel that anything below a 3.5 needs to be confirmed. A recent study showed that there are some people who have over a 3.5 and have no symptoms can be a false positive, too. The number on the results is really, really important.
Oh and I should also say that for anyone who has oral herpes of either strain - hsv1 or 2 - won't transmit it with a quick kiss. It takes some friction. Also, the skin anywhere else but the lips is too thick for the virus to penetrate.

Obviously, if an outbreak is present, you should avoid kissing anyone, but a quick kiss on the forehead or cheek won't ever transmit it.
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