RI_HSV

Great, thank you very much, Adrial! I am a bit paranoid indeed. Hopefully these feelings will die down with time.

That makes sense, thanks! One last question I have is: it seems that the main mode of transmission is through sexual activities like kissing, oral sex and penetration. How likely is it to spread the virus (if you have it orally) through kissing on the cheek or sharing meals, drinks, etc? The internet is full of so much contradicting info, it's hard to separate the facts from the scaremongering.

Thank you very much for your reply, Adrial. It certainly helps soothe my mind a bit. I thought most oral-to-genital (or oral-to-oral for that matter) transmissions were asymptomatic. It looks like shedding can occur asymptomatically often but it's not clear if shedding leads to transmission necessarily. This whole thing is very confusing.

Hi all, I am very happy I found this very knowledgeable and supportive community. I was diagnosed with HSV-1 about two months ago. Tested positive with the IgG test, though I have never had an outbreak and don't know where I have the virus. I was in the middle of a somewhat abusive relationship, so I figured I might as well get an STI test because communication was very difficult and we never even properly talked about STIs. I barely knew about herpes viruses, and I certainly hadn't been tested for it before. My previous STI tests didn't test for HSV, but my new PCP included it for whatever reason (only later did I find out even the CDC doesn't recommend testing for herpes). Ironically, I got my results when my now-ex was having what I think was a primary outbreak. She had cracked skin on her butt and high fever for a few days. She went to the ER, and they told her it's not a UTI but didn't test her for HSV. She dismissed my suggestion to get tested for HSV because "it is just cracked skin and cannot be herpes". In any case, she wasn't too bothered by my diagnosis, so I didn't think much about it either. We broke up a few weeks later for unrelated reasons. Now that I'm single again, all the emotions are coming in full force. As I'm dealing with that, I have a couple of questions that people here might have the answer to: 1) Is it possible to find out where the virus is and how often I shed asymptomatically? I know it's most likely oral but it would be good to know for sure. I know that there are some labs that take swabs for shedding purposes but I don't know if those are used for research only or if they offer services to the general public. 2) How likely is it that I infected my ex? She said it was very dry skin on her butt crack that made it uncomfortable to even sit. We mostly had protected sex, with 2-3 exceptions (I was freaking out about her getting pregnant!), but we did have oral sex quite often before my diagnosis. Honestly, I don't want to get in touch with her again because it's been a rough relationship. Thanks for your help! And apologies for the long rant.