I have oral herpes — HSV, type 2

[Starynite]

I have Oral Herpes type two. Yes positive. I need more information on symptoms and transmission rates, and can I kiss again?? :(

I have kissed someone and I want to know if that can pass on to him? Not too much info out there on oral type two. Please help!

 

- Liz

[mr_hopp]

Wow, you're in the extreme minority! Are you absolutely sure it's HSV-2? You got the IgG test confirming that? The reason I ask is because only 1-2% of the population actually has HSV-2 orally (and the majority of the 1-2% are men who have sex with men). Based on the extreme rarity of oral HSV-2, you can see that the HSV-2 strain of the virus prefers NOT to be in the mouth, which means the risk of passing it that way should be much lower. The virus only sheds 1% of the time.

 

See the disclosure handout here to see the stats on viral shedding:

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

 

The risk of passing HSV-2 to the mouth is so drastically low, in fact, that Dr. Leone even told our in-person support group this past Monday that there is no reason to even abstain from oral sex if you have HSV-2 genitally. Watch the full video here:

http://herpeslife.com/doctor-answers-questions-about-genital-herpes-hsv-and-hpv/

 

And to answer your question, of course you can kiss again! Let your partners know the deal and what a low risk it is and that 80% of Americans ages 14-49 have the HSV-1 strain of herpes orally.

[Starynite]

That is great information! Thank you so much! I just have another question... Could I ever give someone oral sex? What are the chances of me passing someone Through that?

[mr_hopp]

I told you already. ;) HSV-2 orally only sheds 1% of the time, which means the chance of transmission are even lower. The chances mathematically speaking are slim to none, but there's always a chance. Not enough of a chance to be paranoid at all, but to be cautious and aware if you happen to be having something out of the ordinary going on in your mouth.