Risk of contracting HSV-1 genitally

[lou7979]

Greetings everyone. In my case I'm HSV-1 and HSV-2 positive and my gf is negative for both types of herpes. My question is, if I perform oral sex on her, how risky is it that she will contract HSV-1 genitally even though she never contracted HSV-1 before?  (Assuming I perform oral sex when I don't have any cold sores in my mouth). Thank you.

[gracefromHHP]

for the most part yet. every now and then you get a doozy of a recurrence but that differs from person to person.  

grace

[lou7979]

That's very interesting, I had no idea that the ob pattern had more to do with my genes as opposed to my immune system.  Good thing to know.  And yes, I bought Terri's new book, "the good news about the bad news"   I cant wait to read it, I should be getting it this week.

Just one last thing.  You wrote only time will tell how my ob pattern will be and how "severe" it gets.  Since my symptoms have been benign up to now and you wrote that the vast majority with HSV-2 of people experience mild symptoms, more than likely my ob pattern will remain the same right?  I'm assuming yes, but I just want to make sure.  Thanks once again, I'm becoming more knowledgeable regarding my infection everyday.

[gracefromHHP]

You must've bought Terri's new book "the good news about the bad news" then ?

They don't typically post "typical" ob pictures online. If they did, it would most of the time be pretty much a "where's waldo " type of thing for folks looking at them. They tend to post the very obvious ob's so that folks aren't sitting there scratching their heads going "where's the herpes?".  

Only time will tell how your ob pattern will be and how "severe" they are.  It's different from person to person and from ob to ob.  It has little to do with your immune system and more to do with your gene's actually.  No, ob's won't get more severe over time as you age either. No worries there!

grace

[lou7979]

As I've been doing research on the Internet the last few days, I've seen lots of pictures of men with genital herpes and from the looks of it, the symptoms in the images have been very severe in many cases.  My question is, considering that my symptoms have been mild and I believe I've had the infection for at least a year (since that is when I started to feel a little bit of itching), what are the chances that my symptoms will actually get worse throughout the course of time and start to look like the pictures I've been seeing online?  I understand from everything that I have read that the symptoms of herpes get less and less severe over time. But then why is it that when you google herpes images, there are pictures of men with considerably stronger symptoms? Can I assume that those people whose pictures are online most likely have another infection as well or a very weak immune system?  Or could those be images of first episode outbreaks?  I guess I want to know, generally speaking, for people who experience mild symptoms as myself, what are the chances that their symptoms will actually worsen over time?  To be completely honest, I'm worried that as I get older and my immune system gets weaker (as that usually occurs with aging) that my symptoms will begin to look like the images I've been seeing online.  Is that likely? Thx for the clarification.

[lou7979]

Ok, I'll keep all my questions to one post, sorry about any confusion.  And yes, I did buy the book you recommended (I believe by Terri Warren).  I ordered it through Amazon.com   You've answered and relieved most of my concerns already, believe it or not.  I really appreciate that.

[gracefromHHP]

the risk is low in general but it's still there. have the two of you discussed what precautions to take?

it's best if you just keep asking questions in one post instead of making new ones for each question. also if you haven't already, read the herpes handbook I believe I recommended in another post you were posting in.

grace