My recommendation in a monogamous couple is - unless he has obvious genital symptoms ( pain, lesions ) don't worry about it. You'll drive yourself nuts otherwise and it's just not worth it for the low risk of transmission. Really most times colds and flu, really are just colds and flu : )
grace
Oh and also, here is the circumstance of why I am asking. I am a female on Valtrex and my partner is HSV free. We have decided together to move away from condoms pretty much being aware of the statistics that if I stay on Valtrex there is about a 2 percent chance he will get it. Am curious about the early symptoms and what we need to look for in case he would need to go get tested again at some point. Don't want to be running to the doctor everytime a little ache or cold comes up, so just trying to be proactive here and get a realistic idea of what to watch for. The idea that sometimes people never know or never have a major noticeable outbreak really confuses me, as mine was quite obvious.
Why can people have HSV for so long and never know it? Is it more common than not for symptoms to be so slight that a male would not notice? If symptoms are so slight, does this mean the initial outbreak has not happened yet?? What are the female to male transmission odds without condoms while on Valtrex?
I have a feeling he is getting cold sores mixed up with a cold.
Cold symptoms are not a sign of herpes infection. The "flulike" symptoms we talk about are completely different from the common cold.
We gals have more nooks and crannies in our genital mucosa than the boys do which is why we are more prone to infection - more surface area that can be infected.
The herpes handbook at www.westoverheights.com goes into all the other info for you.
grace