Welcome to the STD forum.
Does having HSV-1, with oral herpes as a child, "predispose me to having genital herpes"? No. In fact, just the opposite: you are likely immune, or at least very highly resistant, to catching a new HSV-1 infection anywhere on your body. Since HSV-1 accounts for up to half of all new cases of genital herpes these days, your risk of getting genital herpes someday is substantially lower. It is extremely unlikely your knee lesion was due to HSV. Your childhood infection was oral and that's almost certainly the only infected area. The virus is rarely spread to other parts of the body beyond the initially infected zone.
It is possible you are somewhat protected against genital herpes due to HSV-2 as well. People with prior HSV-1 tend to have less severe symptoms when they catch HSV-2; there are conflicting data on whether they are at reduced risk of being infected in the first place.
I think those comments answer all three of your questions. You don't have genital HSV-1 and never will get it.
I hope this helps. Best wishes and happy holidays-- HHH, MD
Doctor, thank you so much for your response: My one question since my previous health care provider, (who now has since retired) believed I had Type I far down on my leg...which only happened twice, a very long time ago, (mind you as a dermatologist he said he had never seen this in this location before) and even though it has never returned. I became concerned after the STD tests.
Obviously since I believed already I had an oral infection prior to this incident as a child/teen.... how would it pop up on my leg, way beyond the "boxer short" area as I have heard? That is why I asked if is a sign of genital herpes, even though my retired doctor brushed it off as it came from being a kid, scraped knees; I got concerned if this could be passed to my fiancé' which made me nervous. And since you have a vast more knowledge of type I infection; that is why I asked as a second opinion. Thank you so much, I trust and value all your help, and any more insight would be great. Happy Holidays again….
As I re-read your initial question, I realize I might have misinterpreted it. I thought you were saying your sister's chin lesions were tested and positive for HSV-1. Now I understand you were referring to the outbreak on your knee several years later. You and your dermatologist are correct that this was quite unusual. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
However, this doesn't change the important part of my reply. Since you have had HSV-1 (it doesn't matter where on your body), you can be sure you'll never catch it again. You aren't at risk for genital HSV-1. Second, there is no signifcant risk that your fiance, or anyone esle, will ever catch HSV-1 from you. The only exception would be if a) you had another outbreak of the knee and b) had vigorous contact of those lesions with someone else. By "vigorous", I mean intensive rubbing of the herpes lesion's on another person's skin.
Which raises another interesting possibility in my mind. Maybe you didn't catch your leg herpes from your sister after all. Are you a wrestler, or did you wrestle in school? "Herpes gladiatorum" refers to HSV-1 infection acquired by wrestlers, almost anywhere on the body. It results from just the sort of "vigorous" exposure described above -- and you can easily imagine how a wrestler with an oral herpes outbreak could infect an oponent on the shoulder, back, leg, arm, etc. In the past 20 years, herpes gladiatorum has been increasingly recognized, sometimes as a big problem for a team; some outbreaks have involved several team members at a time. Nowadays high school and university wrestlers are routinely examined for oral herpes before matches and disqualified if an outbreak is present.
By the way, all this suggests you might not have oral HSV. Recurrent oral herpes usually causes sores on the lips or face, not inside the mouth -- sores on the tongue usually are not herpes. Your leg might be the only place you have HSV-1.
To repeat the main point, for sure you are protected against a new HSV-1 infection, genital or anywhere on your body; and there is no significant risk of transmission to your fiance or anyone else -- assuming no wrestling during some future outbreak!
Happy new year. Take care -- and don't worry about herpes.
Played most High School sports, including wrestling (which I was not very good at and seemed like I was always being scraped up off the mat), thanks again for clarification; Happy New Year, ......appreciate your expertise and insight. I will stick to boxing with my fiancé’, she will probably knock me out.
Doctor, thanks again.......the reason I became so worried and what precipitated writing to you was that the Nurse/LVN indicated that my lower leg top of knee lesion would travel back and forth between my genitals and knee. I then nearly fell off exam table, and obviously became bewildered to the source of information; are they citing old medical information, or not completely informed? Just currious....
Thanks, very much and appreciate your "great e-mail (bedside) manor".
I explained to fiance'.... she is not worried...it was more me that was a big chicken. Take care...
The Nurse/LVN is wrong. I won't try to guess where s/he obtained that misinformation, but herpes does not behave that way.
Your fiance has the right attitude and seems to be a wise person. Stick with her.
That will have to be all for this thread.