can i reinfect myself this way

[jay12121]

i have recently been given a positive result for hsv1 to which i believe i got about 3ish 4ish months ago, my last outbreak i had was in june and it was a single blister on my lip. anyways yesterday i ended up sneezing into my shirt and i believe i washed my chest with soap and water, and then today i coughed into my shirt and i also washed with soap and water, are these possible ways to autoinoculate myself, i usually do these things so i dont get germs anywhere but that was before i found out i have herpes so i know i need to be extra careful not to get it any where else on my body. also this morning, i ended up scratching my forearm when i woke up but im not sure if i touched my lip before hand ( i dont know what i do in my sleep) but if i had touched my mouth could i reinfect myself that way? also how high is my risk for doing these things? i just got coldsores so i dont know the ins and outs of this virus, what i can or cannot do. and how to prevent further infecting myself and my partner. thank you all

[MMissouri]

No, you would only autoinoculate yourself if you played with the coldsore and then immediately touched yourself somewhere else. Even then, you'd have to have quite a bit of the virus on your fingers. The risk will decrease with time.

 

So be cautious when touching cold sores, wash your hands immediately afterwards, and you should be fine. Sneezing, coughing, etc will not spread the virus to other parts of yourself or anyone else for that matter.

[jay12121]

No, you would only autoinoculate yourself if you played with the coldsore and then immediately touched yourself somewhere else. Even then, you'd have to have quite a bit of the virus on your fingers. The risk will decrease with time.

 

So be cautious when touching cold sores, wash your hands immediately afterwards, and you should be fine. Sneezing, coughing, etc will not spread the virus to other parts of yourself or anyone else for that matter.

 

thank you so much for responding, and what if i did these things but i dont have a blister present? i havent had one in like almost two months, but i am aware that i am always contagious, but is it highly unlikely to reinfect myself, if i happen to touch my lip without a blister and then another body part like genitals or anything?

[MMissouri]

I would think if there wasn't a blister present, your risk would be even lower. Simply touching your lip should not cause any transmission elsewhere. I wouldn't be too concerned about it, most people contact it as a child and manage not to infect other areas of their bodies. And 80% of the population carries the virus for oral HSV1.

 

Wash your hands after messing with coldsores and make sure you don't have any openings on your fingers when messing with one (hangnails, torn cuticles and things like that). Abstain from kissing/oral sex when you feel the signs of a blister coming on (usually the shedding will be high during this time) and of course do the same if you have one. Since it is such a common infection, most people do not feel the need for disclosure when kissing, however, the opinion of disclosure before oral sex is debated, since it can give someone genital herpes.

[jay12121]

does hand sanitizer work just as well, like purrell? if soap and water isnt available?

[MMissouri]

Soap and water is deadly to herpes but hand sanitizers vary. Some specifically say herpes virus, look at the label.