How much of a risk am I?

[jr049]

So I have fairly recently been diagnosed with genital HSV-1, I got symptoms after a casual sexual partner performed oral sex on me so I am assuming that’s where it came from but that’s not necessarily true or important. It took me a while to be diagnosed as I went to the doctor assuming (and hoping) it was folliculitis, she told me it did not look like herpes, however after a couple of days it became VERY painful and I could barely sleep or walk without tears, due to work I couldn’t get to a clinic to find out, however I think I knew inside the whole time it was, so after a lot of tears I came to terms with it, and googled EVERYTHING I could on the topic. I finally got an appointment and received treatment and results and here I am- since then I have had one casual partner who I did not disclose to as I have read genital - genital hsv1 is not commonly transmitted (is this a myth?) and I ensured we used a condom, I also (possibly unnecessarily) started taking suppressive antivirals to try and prevent transmission as much as possible. I have had a few casual sexual partners, some by my choice and some I assumed it was more, so I am using this as a wake up call to try and weed out the less nice men shall we say, I decided I didn’t need a relationship or sex and should focus on myself, however this great guy came along and we got on well- I disclosed to him and it went a lot better than I thought as I am fairly young (20) so him being 21 I could possibly “ruin” his sex life for the whole future (stigma) but we continued seeing each other. I understand that’s a lot of information I kinda wanted to get it all out and ask - how likely is it that I will transmit to a partner, does anyone have experience? Being young and enjoying sex I would like to have as much information as possible, bearing in mind I am using condoms and antivirals, and has anyone been in a similar situation and have any advice for me? (Young and diagnosed)

[Ishmael]

Hi jr049. The common rule of thumb is that if you are using antivirals DAILY and using condoms and completely abstaining from sex during outbreaks, the chance of an HSV + woman infecting a HSV- man is less than 1% over the course of an entire year. This is what multiple articles I have read have suggested, but I have yet to actually see the research. I'm trying to find it, and if I do i will let you know. 

[HikingGirl]

7 hours ago, Ishmael said:

Hi jr049. The common rule of thumb is that if you are using antivirals DAILY and using condoms and completely abstaining from sex during outbreaks, the chance of an HSV + woman infecting a HSV- man is less than 1% over the course of an entire year. This is what multiple articles I have read have suggested, but I have yet to actually see the research. I'm trying to find it, and if I do i will let you know. 

Terri Warren cites the references in her book (I’ll PM you with the details).