I would love to hear from anyone with a oral hsv 2 infection?

[lizz33]

Hi,

I have just been diagnosed with genital hsv2. I had a inconclusive swab of lesions on my genitals a few years ago but have just recently had it confirmed with a blood test. My concern now is that I have passed the infection to my bf via oral sex. I told him about my swab test a few years ago so we have used condoms but did not use protection during oral sex as I thought the risk of transmission through oral sex was minimal.I started to panick when he developed a cold sore on his upper lip. It seems likely to me that this was a oral outbreak of hsv 2 but ive read they are rare and most of the time inffect the genital region as well? He has never had any cold sores as of yet on his genitals and has never to his knowledge had a oral cold sore before. I am quite confused by this and would love advice from anyone who has had a outbreak of oral hsv 2 before? Can they be isolated to the mouth? Are oral infections of hsv2 as infectious in terms of viral shedding, as genital infections?

Would appreciate any answers or advice

[WCSDancer2010]

lizz33

 

Welcome... you have found a great, safe place to get your questions answered :)

 

First off, HSV2 Oral makes up only 1% of the HSV transmissions.... meaning it is very, very rare for it to transfer from the genitals to the mouth. However, 80% of the population up to age 50 has HSV1 oral and 80% of them don't know they have it. So odds are much more likely that he has had HSV1 and just not known it until now.

 

The first thing I'd want to know is, has your BF been blood tested for HSV... either in the past and/or more recently? It's pretty important to know his status too for several reasons...

 

1) IF you passed HSV2 to him, (genital OR oral) then any need for precautions goes out the window because once your partner has the same strain, they can't get "more" of if from you..... so if he got it he won't pass it back to you on your mouth.... and

 

2) if he has HSV1 Oral (60% of young people have it when they reach adulthood... acquired from other children or adults kissing them or sharing drinks) then you need to know so you can try to not have it transfer to your genitals.

 

Now, IF this is HSV2, then he will very likely have one or 2 outbreaks and you will never see it again. HSV2 doesn't like living north of the border at all and it usually goes very quiet once the body builds the antibodies to it.. after that it only sheds about 1% of the time (as opposed to HSV2 genital which sheds 15-30% of the time without anti-viral meds.)

 

There's a lot of great info on the handouts that Adrial has designed here:

 

http://bit.ly/h-opp-disclosure-handout

 

I would print that out so you have the info close at hand until you are familiar with it all ;)

 

One other thing... you DO know that a condom does not completely protect your partner from Herpes? Depending on the study you read, condoms may give you a 30-90% protection rate... so much depends on where you get your OB's.... if they come in an area where the condom doesn't cover , you can still pass it on. So I'm wondering if you are on anti-virals too? That would knock your shedding down a lot (which would be a good idea given that you are having oral sex) and also act as a "belt and braces" approach to shedding in general with use of condoms during sex.

 

Hope that clarifies things a bit for you...

 

(((HUGS)))