Chances of getting herpes whitlow by touching herpes outbreak?

[Pollyanna1]

I am having my genital outbreak right now. (Again) It almost healed. Just redness! Today I wantted to put a cream on it but i couldnt find any q-tips so I put it with my and washed away with soap right away! I am now having a ache on my arm and armpit. No visual blister though but it just happened yesterday so maybe its devoloping blisters now! What are my chances to get herpes like this. I have HSV2 for more than 2 years now. Also i am using daily valtrex!

[Sil88]

I'd say very minimal, unless you rubbed a cut on your finger against the OB.. I'd say the aches you feel are just a general sign of the virus becoming active.

[Pollyanna1]

Well I didnt rub it off course.It probably didnt touch my skin. I put a big amount of the cream on my finger and just tip on the obs which probably didnt touch. I checked my finger no open scar or etc... Also I wash immideatly like 3 second after the touching. I dont know why am I having aches. Could be psycological?

[Sil88]

Yup that's one of my theories too. But sounds like youre already being overly cautious, don't worry about it.

[Pollyanna1]

Thank you Sil! I cant handle one more herpes infection. One is already pain in the ass.

[WCSDancer2010]

If you have had H for 2 years you have the antibodies to it so it's very unlikely you would get HW unless you had an open cut/hangnail/etc and rubbed it against the OB ... even then the antibodies should stop it unless you were already immune compromised (run down, over stressed, sick, etc).

 

The human mind is a powerful thing and whatever you put your attention to will get magnified, especially under stress/anxiety....

 

You should be fine... I've handled probably over 100 OB's in my time and never got HW... didn't even know it existed till a few years ago so I never took any special precautions either ;)

[seeker]

I scratched the hell out of my obs when I didn't know what they were and no witlow so im guessing your all right. funny this came up in convo with a fellow H bud. how people are with the sores and applying stuff to them. my thought was if H is so weak outside the body and im putting tea tree oil on it which is antiviral itself, how in the hell would it survive to get on my finger? also the palm side of our hands evolved to handle this, that's why the skin there is thick and contains a lot of "wax" ( I forgot the correct term). we handle a lot of stuff with nasties on them and manage to not get them.

 

chances are the cream you were using killed the virus anyway once it was outside the body.

[Pollyanna1]

Thank you guys! I am still having a weird sensation under my armpit. Why the hell is happening :( I am going to wait little more and will check with doctor.

[Sil88]

If you do, let me know what they say please!

[WCSDancer2010]

Odds are it a general lymphatic inflammation/irritation..the lymph system is like the blood circulatory system except there is no heart to pump it so when it gets stimulated (by infections) it can take awhile to get it all cleared out and while it's clearing it may aggravate lymph glands in other areas of the body. So odds are this is what you are dealing with... but it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out because there are lots of other things than H that can aggravate the lymph glands.

[Pollyanna1]

I hope it wont be something more serious! I am also started to having a flu right now. I dunno whats going on with me. I am the one who doesnt have ob for 1.5yrs... But now, Its like every 3-4 weeks

[WCSDancer2010]

Could be you are run down... could be something is out of balance (I had a lot of changes for awhile when I went through menopause). Try to think of what has changed in the recent past... if you can't figure out anything, get a blood run-up to see if something is out of whack ... in the meantime, attack it from the outside... anything that knocks it right down (epsom salts baths, etc) can help the body regain control... ;)

[Pollyanna1]

Today my aches are fade away but i have reddish cut near my nail on ring finger. Which hurts when I touch. But I didnt touch with that finger. Could it be travelled to that finger? Its not blistering, it looks like an open paper cut, tingiling on the finger also :(

[WCSDancer2010]

No - it doesn't travel anywhere ... it will only come up where you come in SUSTAINED contact with an OB or possibly where you are shedding but the contact would have to be longer and "rougher" in order to cause an entryway into the body...

 

Sounds like you have wintertime cracked skin on your fingers ... my ex hubby got that all the time every winter.

[Sil88]

If you're stressing out, are you pulling/playing with your hair? Could be the cause..

[Pollyanna1]

I hope sooo hun. I am scarred that I cant touch my loved ones

[seeker]

hey. just treat it as you would any other cut on your hand. cover it and keep it from people. herpes or not I don't like someone offering me their hand for a handshake and seeing open sores. my point is, it is what it is. treat it like any other sore. bandaids for the win!.

 

I recently had something on my right pinky and yes my mind went to whitlow, it was on my right hand on the pinky in a spot that would come in contact with my testicles during solo sexy time, egad! i must have shed!!! no I scrapped my hand on a concrete floor while at work and the homeowner had a very old dog and a catbox on said lanai. it was less than clean. my assumption, ( given that the simplest answer is usually the correct one) is it got infected. a bandaid and some antibiotic cream and it got better in a few days. I still kept it covered and didn't use it for much in way of contact with others, regardless of what it was. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.