Shedding without sexual contact

[felareed]

Hi everyone it has been a long time since I posted on here. Tonight I'm very concerned about my 11 year old daughter. When I had my initial outbreak she was 5. One night she crawled into bed with me and sometime during the night she lodged her foot in between my legs almost in my private area! At that time I was having irritated skin, probably an outbreak at the hat time. Over the last few years she occasionally gets a spot that is sore between her but cheeks, very small but painful. I'm so afraid I passed this to her, any thoughts?

[mr_hopp]

Hey felareed!

 

This is a common fear amongst parents in our community. The fear of passing this on to our kids is so much higher than the actual chances of that happening. The way that most kids get herpes is from being kissed when there's an active oral outbreak. So shedding doesn't tend to pass herpes on in the appropriate and caring ways that adults are with children, even in cuddly and close ways. It's sad that sometimes this fear of passing herpes to children in innocent ways has some people avoid being close and affectionate to their own children. The rule of thumb is if you're having an active outbreak, avoid skin contact with anyone, but if not, you're fine to be affectionate and close to the people you love. So please do continue lovin' up on your kid. You won't pass herpes that way. :)

 

Two things:

 

1. The vast majority of the time, the way genital herpes is passed is through genital-to-genital rubbing or the mouth because the skin on the genitals and mouth are thinner mucous membranes. The skin elsewhere (including the foot) is going to be much thicker and therefore less permeable to the virus. Especially if you weren't having an active outbreak, the chances of passing is are so, so minor. Because her foot wasn't right up against where you have outbreaks anyway, right? Sounds like she got *close* which wouldn't give the virus enough of a chance to get passed.

 

2. To be absolutely sure, take her to the doctor and get the spot swabbed and tested. It's probably not herpes, but for absolute peace of mind, that's the way to do it.

 

So it's good you're asking about this to allay your fears and don't let the carefulness that comes with having herpes cross the threshold into paranoia and fear, okay? :)

[WCSDancer2010]

As a mom and grandmother, I'm just going to put it out there.... STOP! You are letting your fears run your mind ... when the reality is that unless you are doing something inappropriate with your child, there should be no way for them to get Herpes from your genitals.

 

Your child touched (get it - touched.... as opposed to the sustained rubbing that comes with sex) your crotch. With an area that has THICK skin. When you were "irritated" (ie, not an oozing scabby massive outbreak) so any shedding was likely minimal.

 

To get H you generally need a pretty reasonable "dose" of the virus.... which *if* your child came in contact with any virus, odds are the amount was minimal.

 

On top of that, you say the irritation your child gets is in the butt cheeks - not the foot. If the child got it from you the OB would be on the FOOT! It doesn't migrate to other areas like that. Promise. :)

 

My granddaughter went through a spell of having nasty rashes that turned out were caused by STREP (as I recall - it was some kind of bacteria). Sounds like that is what your child is dealing with. Next time it happens, get it swabbed. Odds are you will get an antibiotic treatment for it, and hopefully you will get it under control....

 

http://supporttruthanddialog.com/toilets-towels-and-touching-oh-my/